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American PopuJcir PubilwUtons 
No. 1 



1^92 



1 r 



«« 



San Salvador" 



A STORY OF COLUMBUS 



AND HIS DISCOVERIES 



By n. J. K. 




American Popular Publication Co. 
Chicago 



TW'nNTY'M*r\'ii CJ32VTS 



American Popular Publicdtiofis. No. i. 

1492--1592 



%k 



San Salvador:" 



A Story of Columbus and His Discoveries 

AND A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE 

Mound Builders, Visits of the Norsemen, 
Modern Disc©very 

AND THE 

WORLD'S COLUMBIAN 
EXPOSITION 

By Mrj^^^Ji^H 

American Popui^ar Pubi,ication Co. 
CHICAGO 



« 

1 



CONTENTS, 



\S'tU(ti)r,<:iit,ti . . .... 'j 

VuzhhUfrU: Af^c A Ku<le Civil izntton. 
Moun<lH at Newark, Ohio. Montin)«:Tit« 
of a i'orgotten \'t(>\At. A WWu,r\ of the 
l'a»t. 

11- Vfunr HtJifhf'iUft ViHVrrykH r^ 

J'rom I'rozen J'iord and Rocky Shore. 
The Nf/r<*emen. The Terrr/r of Huro^A:, 
lyief Rrick.Hon. VinJanrl. Skeletr^ in 
Armour. 

J 11. ThK CAS'/f^ft ftV THJ5 SHA 23 

spectre Cape. BartlioUmiewDia/.. Mf^l- 
ern Dmiovcry. Prkic*: Utnry% Useful 
Jvife, Vaftco de <^>ama. hhh(m, the 
Rcftort of the Adventurous. 

TV.- TffH Mai'-Makkr 01* Gknoa 29 

Itnj;f:rJ,shaWe Works of Italy's Sonji. 
Trained in a i<uj(^ed SchrK.»l. Ijfe on the 
Mediterranean. Two Useful i'^rrors. A 
Mystery I'ull of Terrors. 

v.— At THK COfJk'fS OP THK NOKf.H. .^ .53 

Center of Mrxlern Jmcovtry. Portugal 
refu«i*;s I'atrona^/e. Marries I;ona I'elipa. 
Residence at i'orto Santr>. Visits the 
Ultima Thule. Ciains an Audience, 
leaves Portugal, 



Cofifmfs. 

Paok 
VI. — FKRDINANP and ISABKl.l.A. ^^"^ 

Voriod of Great Proi^perity. ^Migrations 
of a Military Court, ^louiitaiti Fortress 
of the Moors. Pinchiiiii rovertv. Vlans 
Prouoxiuced Imju^ssiMo. 1. eaves tor 
France. 

VII. — ISLVUKI^LA IMMORTAUZES SlWTN .... 43 

A Boiigar at the Gate. CoUunbus Re- 
called. Fall of Granada. Negotiations 
Broken OtT. Isabella Undertakes the 
Knterprise. rriucoly Rewards Protnised 
and Continued. 

Vlll. ThK ApMIKAI. IIOl.^TS HIS b'l.AG V^ 

Fitting chit a Fleet. Three Caravels and 
One Hundred and Twenty men. Third 
of August, 1492. Delay at theCat\aries, 
On the Atlantic. nitVicnlties. Dangers 
and Disturbance, ^lystery of the Ocean 
Solved, l^and, Aheail ! 

IX. Coi.vMurs IX THK Xv:\v Wi^kt.d .... 5.} 
Twelfth of October, 14*.).'. San Salvador. 
Naked but Hospitable Savages. Search 
for Cipango. Cu^lden Dreams. Hamacs. 
Native Cigars. Shipwreck. A Fortress 
Built. Left in an Unknown I,and. 

X. "Sick. THK Conoiu<:rino IlKRO CoMRS." m 
Homeward Voyage. Violent Storms. 
A Mes.sage from the Sea. Arrival at the 
Azores. Jealousy of the Portuguese. 
Reception at Palos. A Roman Triumph. 
Coat of Arms and a Legend . 



Conlcnls. 7 

XI. "In 'fill', SuNSiiiN'i', OK koVAi, Favok 6>'. 

SccoikI Voyaj^c. Iii'lia lloujic. A 
Motley Crow'l. 'i'lic Anchor wci^^licd. 
Maftsacn: at. X/a. Navirlad. Aiiionj^ the 
CaribH. The I'irst City. A Stain on the 
K.HCUtcheon. 

XII. — Tm, rAKAniSK, uv 'nii, Indian , 76 

I'lirnnit of Oohl. Di.scontent and Mu- 
tiny. Discovery of Jamaica. The 
Cacique's Hracelets, Calumniators at 
Court. Aquado'H Arro^^ant Assumj)tion. 
Voyage Home. 

XIII,— A I'UIS(mi',k IN ClfAINS 81 

I'rojecterl Ivnterprises. 'Jhird Voyage. 
Criminals r*)r Colonists. A Cdimpse of 
the Continent. Roldan'» Rebellion, 
Uabadilla Ai>iKjin4.(:<l ComthiHsion<:r. 
Coliimhiis a I'risoncr, 

XIV, LA.ST VOVAOJ', OI' UW. AD.MrKAIv . ... S9 

The Aged Prisoner in Spain. Indigna- 
tion and vSympathy. Isabella in Tears, 
The Aged Mariner's Defense. Ingrati- 
tude of the King, The Pliantom Strait, 
l-ate of the ivnemies of Columbus, 

XV. "Tmi', Days ark Dark and I>t<i:ai<v." 95 
Yucatan and Mexico. A I-Vuitless 
vSearch. I'ortress in the Sea, Perilous 
Voyage in a Canoe, A Timely I',clipse. 
Mutiny. A Year on a Wreck, Rescued. 



o Contents. 

o Page 

XVI.— Nunc Dimittis ^°^ 

Death of Isabella. Ferdinand, Evasive 
and Dilatory. Life's Tide Fast Ebbing. 
Peaceful Preparations. Death of Colum- 
bus. Funeral Obsequies. A Monu- 
ment and a Legend. 

XVII —A City of Pai^acks ^°7 

Crowning Event of the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury. Columbia Acts the Hostess. 
Birthday Celebration. Invitation to the 
Nations. Act of Congress. Vast Out- 
lay. Grandeur of the Republic Repre- 
sented by Chicago. 

GI.OSSARY OF Foreign Words and Phrases. 
Proper Names, and Words not 
generality Used • • ^^3 

121 
REFERENCE READING 



INTRODUCTION. 

THE United States, as the representative na- 
tion of the New World, has decided to com- 
memorate the discovery of this continent, four 
hundred years ago, by a gigantic enterprise, which 
is to bring together the products of the earth and 
the works of man's genius and industry. Vast 
buildings are in course of construction for the 
accommodation of this great gathering of the 
world's workers, which is to take place in the 
city of Chicago, on the shores of Lake Michigan, 
and which has been named the World's ^Colum- 
bian Exposition. The celebration will com- 
mence on the twelfth of October, 1892, the four 
hundredth anniversary of the discovery of the 
New World by Christopher Columbus. 

This event has increased the interest of the 
public in the story of Columbus and a flood of Co- 
lumbian literature, in every form, is the resujtt. In 
some of these the great discoverer has been sub- 
jected to the severe scrutiny of historical critics; 
doubts have been raised, blame has been imputed 

and in some instances his guilt has been declared ; 

(9) 



lO Introduction. 

they have announced that his motives were selfish, 
his character sordid and his whole life one con- 
tinuous effort for personal aggrandisement. One 
claims that he was not descended from noble an- 
cestors ; another that it is impossible he attended 
university lectures ; then a third asserts that his 
idea of western discovery was borrowed from 
others and was not an original conception. The 
existence of Columbus and the greatness of his 
discovery are the only statements not questioned; 
but he is described as a foolhardy adventurer, a 
pirate captain and a man of selfish and depraved 
life. On the other side the admirers of the Ad- 
miral while extolling his great achievement, 
claim that he endured unprecedented opposition 
with phenomenal fortitude ; that courage, con- 
stancy and confidence, which neither age, infirm- 
ity, misfortune nor abandonment could alter, 
marked his marvellous career ; and that inspired 
genius, purity of motive and deep religious fervor 
guided his eventful life. 

From the foolish attempt to beatify and from 
the cruel attempt to vilify all unbiased minds re- 
coil with equal contempt. Columbus was a 
sailor from early boyhood, trained in a rough 



Introductioji . ii 

school, where merchant ships had to fight their 
way from port to port ; he was a map-maker 
when geographical knowledge was defective, yet 
his maps were praised by the learned of that 
time ; he proposed a voyage of discovery across 
the Atlantic, when the maritime nations of the 
Old World were active in fitting out expeditions 
of discovery, but his suggestion was scoffed at, 
his services declined and the enterprise declared 
impossible, yet he crossed the unknown ocean 
and proclaimed to Europe the existence of the 
western hemisphere. As a mariner he was dar- 
ing, restless and experienced, as a map-maker he 
was ahead of his time and as a discoverer he has 
conferred benefits on the human family ihat have 
not been equalled in ancient or modern times. 

Men of sublime thoughts, energetic action, 
patient purpose and resolute work, have come 
from every rank in life. Shakspeare's father 
was a butcher and he himself a cloth-weaver and 
afterwards an actor, Ben Jonson worked with a 
trowel in his hand and a book in his 'pocket. 
Robert Burns' best conceptions were formed at 
the plough, Bunyan was a tinker, Kepler a 
'^ gar^07i de cabai'-ef'^ and Cardinal Wolsey the 



12 



Introduction, 



son of a butcher. Andrew Johnson was a tailor, 
Abraham Lincoln a log splitter, and Ulysses S. 
Grant was a tanner. These are names familiar 
to us by great works achieved. Among the men 
of great enterprise and of persistent effort stands 
prominently the son of the poor wool comber of 
Genoa, Christopher Columbus. 

The life of this remarkable man reads like a 
fairy tale, and many of the incidents of his extra- 
ordinary career would be beyond belief were 
they not well authenticated. His adventures 
are as interesting as " Sinbad " or "Robinson 
Crusoe " and can not fail to have a good influ- 
ence on others when they meet difficulties or 
face dangers. Columbus is not here painted as 
an ideal character ; no claim is made to scholarly 
education or sublime qualities of heart. The 
story is told how he astonished and enriched 
Europe by the discovery of a world such as 
kings sighed for, poets dreamed of and philos- 
ophers hinted at, but which, before his time, the 
boldest mariner would not dare to seek. 

To the story of Columbus is added a brief ac- 
count of that wonderful race, the Mound-Build- 
ers ; the Visit of the Northmen and Modern 



In trod net ion . 13 

Discovery. These chapters will be found useful 
to young people, for whom there is also added a 
chapter on the World's Columbian Exposition 
and a Glossary of difficult terms and phrases 
The endeavor has been to make this story brief, 
interesting, complete, accurate and useful. In 
this busy age, time is almost wholly occupied 
and the hours left for reading few. The pocket 
edition of a carefully prepared volume, combin- 
ing brevity and fullness in treatment; interest 
and accuracy in matter; and neatness and utility 
in form is the want of the hour. The Story of 
Columbus is an attempt to meet this require- 
ment. M. J. K. 
Park Manor, Chicago, Jnne'i8<^2. 



CHAPTER I. 
MASTODON AND MOUND-BUILDER. 

PREHISTORIC AGE. — A RUDK CIVIIylZATlON. 
MOTJNDvS AT NEWARK, OHIO. — MONUMENTS OF 
A FORGOTTEN PEOPLE. — A VISION OF THE 
PAST. 

I\A ANY hundred years ago, there roamed 
/ V through the primeval forests of this coun- 
try, huge animals that have long since become 
extinct. In their skeletons, some of which have 
been found, we have evidence of their existence 
and a proof of their great size. They have been 
named Mastodons and Mammoths and resembled 
the elephant. In the skeleton of one of these 
wild and terrible creatures, found a few years 
ago, there was imbedded a flint arrow head, by 
which it is supposed to have been slain and 
which must have been made by the men who 
lived in that remote, prehistoric age. We know 
nothing more of these men than that they were 
here at that very remote period. We have no 



1 6 " Sa7i Salvador.''^ 

knowledge of whence they came or whither they 
went, but we have the strongest proof that they 
were numerous and that they had acquired a 
rude civilization. 

The first race that left any monuments by 
which it could be traced, was the Mound- 
builders. They lived subsequent to the time of 
the Mastodon but prior to the date of our present 
history. The Mound-builders cultivated the 
soil and depended on it for support, rather than 
on the uncertain product of the chase ; they had 
some knowledge of ores and smelting, made pot- 
tery and cloth of a rude kind, modelled in clay 
and carved stone. These men were not savage 
for they worked hard, which the savage seldom 
does. They had skill and loved the beautiful. 
The mounds they have left show great care and 
experience, both in form and in construction, and 
are some of the most interesting of the ancient 
monuments of this country. They are very 
numerous and very extensive. 

The mounds at Newark, Ohio, are very good 
specimens and although they cover several hun- 
dred acres they are not the largest. They are 
built in the form of great circles, squares and 



Mastodon and Mound- Builder. 17 

octagons and were used as places of defense, or 
sepulture and some were set apart for religious 
rites. These works are the results of infinite 
toil. We are told that, in the construction of 
one of the Egyptian pyramids, 360,000 men 
were employed for twenty years. We may 
therefore conclude that the expenditure of labor 
on the construction of these monuments, of 
a prehistoric past, must have been almost be- 
yond calculation. If at the present day, with 
our iron implements and labor-saving machines, 
it would occupy thousands of men many months, 
to complete one of these works, what must have 
been the amount of labor and time expended by 
the Mound-builder, assisted only by his stone 
spade and axe. 

To the student visiting one of these monuments 
of a remote civilization, there is opened up a vision 
of the past which fills his mind with feelings of 
awe and reverence. Here, on this continent, 
where Liberty has built herself a home, there 
lived and toiled and died hundreds of thousands 
of human beings, long before Romulus built 
Rome o\ the Pharaohs ruled in Egypt, and when 
Babylon was in its infancy these monuments 



1 8 " Sa7i Salvador.'^ 

existed, in memory of a distant past and of a 
forgotten people : 

" Oh ! a wonderful stream is the river Time, 
As it runs through the realm of tears, 
With a faultless rhythm aud a musical rhyme 
And a broader sweep and a surge sublime, 
As it bleuds in the ocean of years ! " 



CHAPTER II. 
FIRST EUROPEAN VISITORS. 

FROM FROZEN FIORD AND ROCKY SHORE. — THE 
NORSEMEN. — THE TERROR OF EUROPE. — LIEF 
ERICKSON. — VINIvAND.— SKELETON IN ARMOUR. 

AEITTlvE boat, weather-beaten and storm- 
tossed, having on board a crew of strong, 
well armed men, with light, long hair, fair skin and 
blue eyes, sailed slowly past the coast of New- 
foundland. They ga^ed in wonder on the fertile 
plains, the rapid rivers, the pathless forests and 
the fruit-laden islands. -These daring sailors 
had come in their small bark, from the far oif 
Scandinavian shore, and were of the race of 
hardy Norsemen, who, for centuries, had been 
the terror of Europe. 

*' Their frozen sails the low, pale suu 
Of Thule's night has shone upon ; 
Flapped by the sea-wind's gusty sweep 
Round icy drift, and headland steep." 

From their frozen fiord and rocky shore these 
restless adventurers had come and viewed in 



20 " Siifi Sa/vdi/or/' 

amazement, for the first time, the New World. 
The timid, naked savages, that crowd the shore 
look frail and puny when compared to these mus- 
cular, broad-chested seamen. The American 
Indian found here in the tenth country, by the 
Northmen, was not of the race we now know, 
they were said to be gentle, trustful and friendly. 
They had soft brown bodies, little strength and 
less desire for work, but in running and hunting 
they were experts and accustomed to great en- 
durance. 

The Norsemen or Northmen belonged to the 
peninsulas and islands of northern Europe. 
They were a hardy race, accustomed to the sea 
and to the excitement of a pirate's life. They 
were daring and experienced sailors and fearless 
fighters. From their barren and rock-boinid 
coast and cold climate, the hardy Norseman be- 
came the terror and the scourge of Southern 
Europe. Restless, fearless and venturesome, 
they conquered wherever they went. They 
frightened the Emperor Charlemagne in France, 
and in 912 King Charles ceded to them a por- 
tion of his kingdom, which has ever since been 
called Normandy; they fought Alfred the Great 



Inrst hluropcan Visitors. 21 

in Ivngland, and gave four kings to tliat country. 
In one of tlieir voyages of venture and plunder 
they were driven l)y adverse winds along the 
coast of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. 

Wlien they returned and told the story of the 
country they had seen, I^ief Krickson, a daring 
sailor, fitted out a ship, and with thirty-five good 
seamen went in search of the fertile lands in the 
West. This was in the year 1000. After brav- 
ing many dangers they landed in Newfoundland, 
which they called Ilelluland, and then in Nova 
vScotia, to which they gave the name of Mark- 
land; thence they sailed southward, and in a 
couple of days they entered a sound where they 
anchored. Here they found salmon in abun- 
dance, and larger than any they had seen before ; 
when they went ashore they found grapes grow- 
ing wild and on that account they called the 
place Vinland ; since then the name has been 
.changed but little, it is now called Martha's 
Vineyard. 

When lyief Ivrickson returned home, his 
brother Thorbald fitted out a shij) and went to 
Vinland in 1002, and remained there about three 
years. It is thought that the skeleton in armour, 



22 '' Sa?i Sah 'ado?: ' ' 

found near Fall River, in Massachusetts in 1831, 
was that of Thorbald, who had been killed by the 
Indians, more than eight hundred 3'ears before. 

There are accounts of other journej-s by the 
Norsemen to this countrj^ the most important of 
which is that of Thorfinn Karlsfenn with his wife 
Gudfrid and one hundred and fifty-one men and 
seven women. Tliej- remained a considerable 
time, and it is probable that they built the tower 
that still stands at Newport, and which I^ongfel- 
low has made the subject of one of his poems. 

It is claimed that the Northmen made other ex- 
peditions to thiscountr}' in loii and also in 1121, 
but these venturers had only temporar}^ posses- 
sion, and onh^ caught a glance of the New 
World. No permanent knowledge was obtained 
and, in a short time, their discovery was lost to 
mankind. 



CHAPTER III. 
THE CASTLE BY THE SEA. 

SPKCTRK CAPE. — BARTHOLRMEW DIAZ. — MOD- 
ERN DISCOVERY. — PRINCE IIENRY'S USEFUL 
LIFE. — YASCO DE GAMA. — LISBON, THE RE- 
SORT OF THE ADVENTUROUS. 

A CLOUD rises, darkens thS air, and then 
discloses a monstrous giant, with deep-set, 
cavenied eyes, of rugged countenance and pallid, 
earthy color, vast in size, the colossal wonder 
of the world. In solemn tones, this awful shape, 
prophesies disaster and threatens vengeance on 
those who have discovered him. In answer to 
the question " Who art thou?" the apparition re- 
plies, that he is the great Stormy Cape and that 
he is much offended by their boldness in ap- 
proaching him. He told them that he was 
Adamaster of the race of Titans. That he had 
been deceived by Thetis, the fairest being of the 
sea, and how in his grief, he had wandered forth 
to seek another world. Vengeance pursued him 



24 " Sa7i Salvador.''^ 

and he was turned into a rock and they now 
beheld him known as the Cape of Tempests, so 
long the dread of sailors. 

The genius of the Stormy Cape then vanished 
in a moment amid the angry waters and with a 
noise as great as the roar of ten thousand angry 
lions. 

The prostrate mariner prayed God to remove 
the evil things Adamaster prophesied against 
him and his nation. 

That is how the discovery made by Bartholo- 
mew Diaz, in i486, is recorded in the Lusiadas 
of Camoens, and is one of the most beautiful 
passages in modern poetry. What was this 
discovery that so disturbed Adamaster? Diaz 
had sailed round the most southern point of 
Africa and had ventured to pass, what had been 
called, the " Cape of Tempests " and the " Lion 
of the Sea." The discovery was considered very 
important and great hopes were entertained of 
future discovery as the result. The Portuguese 
king, John II., therefore changed the name, 
and called it "Cape of Good Hope." 

Long before this important event, Portugal 
had been actively engaged in discovery, and to 



The Castle by the Sea. 25 

her may be given the credit of the active search, 
made in the fifteenth century, for new countries 
and for new highways to the old. 

Among the most active promoters of discovery 
was Prince Henry. He was bom in 1394 and 
was the son of John I. of Portugal. When 
twenty-one years of age, he was present at 
the capture of Ceuta, in Africa. This city, 
which lies opposite to Gibraltar, was of great 
magnificence and one of the great markets of 
the eastern world. Prince Henry determined to 
bring the trade of the East to Portugal, but for 
that purpose it would be necessary to send his 
ships round the continent of Africa, a voyage 
which he could not get sailors to undertake. 

We are now so familiar with the ease and safety 
of sea voyages, that we can scarcely imagine the 
terrors that were felt, even by hardy sailors, on 
an unknown sea in the fifteenth century. Le- 
gends of great sea-monsters, rocks of loadstone, 
fiery skies and flying islands were talked of and 
believed. The knowledge of geography was 
very imperfect, charts were misleading, the mar- 
iner's compass had only lately been introduced, 
and the sextant was unknown. Prince Henry 



26 ^' Sa?i Salvador.' ' 

had, therefore, manj^ difficulties. He was an 
able mathematician and had made himself ac- 
quainted with astronomy as then known. In 
order to devote himself more completely to the 
work of discovery, he retired from the Portu- 
guese court and fixed his abode upon the prom- 
ontory of Sagres, in the south of Portugal. 

In this Castle by the Sea, he gathered around 
him the learned, the daring and the experienced 
mariners of the world. From this rock he could 
cheer his captains as they ventured on the un- 
known ocean, or greet them on their return. 
Here he was told of the storm that drove his 
ship on an unknown island, which was called 
Porto Santo, the first advanced outpost of African 
discover3^ Here again he was told of a beautiful 
island which the discoverer called Madeira, 
and here it was that he formed the opinion 
that Africa was circumnavigable. The settle- 
ment of this question he considered an object of 
importance and one likely to confer great benefit 
on his country, and he devoted himself to it 
with a noble enthusiasm. He was before the 
age, however, and had to encounter ignorance 
and prejudice. The navigation of the Atlantic 



The Castle by the Sea. 27 

was yet in its infancy, and mariners feared to 
venture beyond the well-known landmarks. 

To dispel their fears Prince Henry established 
a naval college and placed it in charge of men 
learned in navigation and skillful in making 
maps and instruments. Their labors were most 
successful. Geography and navigation became 
a system, maps were greatly improved, and 
the compass was brought into more general use. 

Prince Henry died in 1473, without accom- 
plishing the great object of his ambition, the 
opening of a highway for commerce to the op- 
ulent regions of the Estst. He lived long enough, 
however, to reap the reward of a great and good 
mind and to see Portugal, from being one of the 
least among nations, rise to be one of the most 
important. At his death, he left it in charge to 
his country to explore the route to India, but it 
was many years afterwards when Vasco de Gama, 
with a Portuguese fleet, realized Henry's wishes 
by sailing round Africa and along the southern 
coast of India. 

The fame of the Portuguese discoveries and 
expeditions attracted the attention of the world, 
and I^isbon became the resort of the learned, the 



28 ''Sou Salvador.' ' 

curious and the adventurous. Among these we 
find, at this time, Christopher Cohimbus, drawn 
thither in pursuit of his cherished theorj^, dis- 
covery in the West ; an object which he had con- 
stantly in his mind, and which he believed he 
had been appointed b}" Heaven to accomplish. 



CHAPTER IV. 
THE MAP-MAKER OF GENOA. 

IMPP:kISHABLE works of ITALY'S SONS. — 
TKAINKD IN A RUGGED SCHOOL. — LIFE ON 
THE MEDITERRANEAN. — TWO USEFUL ER- 
RORS. — A MYSTERY FULL OF TERRORS. 

WHEN Prince John was in the prime of life 
and was raising Portugal, by his useful and 
unselfish labors, to a high place among maritime 
nations, there was born in an Italian seaport a 
boy, who was destined' to become the greatest of 
geographical discoverers and to open up what, 
on account of its vastness, has been justly styled 
the New World. 

Italy has not only given to us imperishable 
masterpieces of poetry, painting and sculpture 
to ennoble mankind, but she has, by the genius 
of her sons, enriched the world. Foremost 
among her children, who have written their 
names indelibly on the roll of the world's 
benefactors, and enshrined themselves in the 
grateful memories of the world's workers, is 
Christopher Columbus, 



30 " Safi Scihcrc/or/' 

He was born in Genoa, about the year 1435, 
and was the oldest of four children. His parents 
were in humble circumstances. After he had 
learned the ordinary branches of an elementary 
education, he was sent, for a short time, to the 
university of Pa via, where he studied geography 
and astronomy. He could not have made much 
progress in these subjects, as he conunenced a 
seafaring life when only fourteen j-ears of age. 
The short time he spent at the universit}' was 
barely sufficient to give him the rudiments of 
these subjects, and the knowledge, which he af- 
terwards showed, must have been obtained by 
study amid the cares and labors of his eventful 
life. ' 

The first voyage of Columbus was made with 
a relative, named Colombo, a hardy, bold and 
experienced seaman. During an interval of 
some years we have only a scant record of the 
young sailor. A maritime merchant, in those 
days, had often to fight his way from port to port. 
Piracy was almost legalized, feuds between the 
states on the coast constant, and ships manned by 
private adventurers scoured the sea. Such was 
the rugged school in which Columbus received 



The Map-maker of (ie)ioa. 31 

his maritime training, sometimes engaged in 
commercial voyages and at other times in warlike 
contests. His scanty earnings as a sailor were 
often increased by map-making for others. The 
maps of that time display a strange mixture of 
truth and error, Imt we are told that the correct- 
ness of his maps gained for him a good reputa- 
tion among men of science. His studies and 
calculations led him to perceive how much of 
the world remained unknown and prompted him 
to adopt plans to explore it. 

The great dark waters of the Atlantic were a 
mystery, full of terrors and dangers, not only to 
children, but to brave and hardy sailors, who 
had spent their lives on t^ie sea. R seemed to 
them, that the earth was a flat surface, with a 
great zone of water of unknown extent surround- 
ing it. They were terrified by the thought of 
what might befall them if they reached the 
boundary of it. A few scholars thought the 
earth might be a sphere but they never dreamed 
of its vast size. Columbus fell into two errors, 
at this time, which he held through his whole 
life, viz.: — the smallness of the earth and the 
largeness of Asia. It is strange that these errors 



32 '' Sd/i Sa/vador.'" 

largely assisted him in the discovery of the New 
World. 

We must not forget, that Copernicus had not 
yet revolutionized astronomy by his solar sys- 
tem, the falling apple had not j^et suggested to 
Newton the law of universal gravitation, and 
Kepler's laws had not yet been written. Marco 
Polo had only recenth^ introduced the mariner's 
compass, paper making was yet in its infancy, 
Giitenberg was perfecting his printing press and 
the universities were only beginning to extend 
the boundaries of knowled2:e. 



CHAPTKR V. 
AT THK COURTvS OF TllK NOJiLK. 

THK CKNTKR OK MODKRN DISCOVERY. — MAR- 
RIES DONA FELIPA. — RESIDENCE AT I'ORTO 
SANTO. — HIS ESTIMATE OF THE EARTll'S CIR- 
CUMFERENCE. — VISITS THE ULTIMA TIIULE. 
GAINS AN AUDIENCE. — LEAVES PORTUGAL. 

ABOUT the year 1470, there appeared at the 
Court of Portugal a man of middle age, 
an experienced mariner, a map-maker of good 
repute and an enthusiastic advocatfe of western 
discovery. He was tall, well formed and muscu- 
lar ; simple in dress, eloquent in discourse and 
dignified in manner. He had come to the great 
center of modern discovery, attracted by the re- 
nown that Portugal had attained, by the labors 
of Prince John and his captains, to offer his serv- 
ices in the search for a new route'to the rich 
realms of the East. This man was Christopher 
Columbus. 

While in Lisbon, Columbus made the acquaint- 



34 " 'Sci/i Sahador/' 

ance of a lady of rank but destitute of fortune, 
Dona Felipa, the daughter of one of the most 
distinguished navigators under Prince John. 
The friendship soon ripened into ailection and 
resulted in marriage. The mother of the bride, 
with whom the newly married couple resided, 
gave Columbus all the charts and papers of her 
late husband, these, no doubt, increased his 
passion for discovery. His scanty means was 
earned by occasional sea voyages and by map- 
miking. After a short time he went to reside at 
Porto Santo, a recently discovered island, where 
his son Diego was born. 

In his island home, surrounded by the excite- 
ment of maritime life, the ardent mind of Colum- 
bus kindled with enthusiasm in the cause of 
discovery. Here, he revived the stories and 
fancies of the ancients ; here, visiting mariners 
told him of reeds of immense size, trunks of huge 
pine trees and pieces of carved wood, which had 
been driven to the Azores by western w^inds ; 

* 

here, he divided the circumference of the earth 
at the equator in twenty-four hours of fifteen de- 
grees each, making a total of three hundred aiid 
sixty degrees. Of these, he considered that fif- 



At the Courts of the Noble. 35 

teen hours had been known to the ancients, that 
is from the Canary Islands to the city of Thinse, 
a place set down as the eastern limits of Asia. 
The Portuguese had advanced west from the 
Canaries one hour by the discovery of the Azores. 
There then remained eight hours or one- third of 
the circumference of the earth unknown. 

Such in brief is an abstract of the grounds on 
which Columbus came to the conclusion that 
there was undiscovered land in the western part 
of the ocean. It was the conception of genius, 
prompted by the impulse of the age and aided 
by the fragments of knowledge which fell in- 
effectually upon ordinary minds. 

While maturing his plans for dis^covery in the 
West, Columbus made a voyage to Europe, it is 
believed to have been to Iceland, which is far to 
the west of the Ultima Thule of the nncitnts. 
Whether, in this voyage, he heard of Lief Erick- 
son's visit to Vinland is not known, but the 
probabilities are that he did not. Several years 
elap.sed without any effort on his fart to carry 
out his western expedition. It is said that he 
endeavored to engage his native city, Genoa, in 
the undertaking, but without success, and he 



36 ''San Salvador.'" 

was too poor himself to fit out the ships necessary 
for so long a voyage. 

In 148 1, John II. ascended the throne of Por- 
tugal. He was then in his twenty-fifth year, and 
had imbibed a passion for discovery from his 
granduncle, Prince Henry. It was about this 
time that Columbus sought the patronage of the 
court of Portugal for his enterprise. In an 
audience with the king, he said, his plan was to 
strike directly to the west, across the Atlantic to 
India, instead of the route by the African coast. 

The reasoning of Columbus must have pro- 
duced some effect, for the king convoked his coun- 
cil and asked advice in the matter. The council, 
having received from Columbus a detailed plan 
of his proposed voyage, and the charts according 
to which he intended to shape his course, dis- 
patched a vessel, secretly, to ascertain whether 
there was any foundation for his theory. This 
attempt to defraud him roused the indignation 
of Columbus and he declined to renew the nego- 
tiation. 

The death of his wife had dissolved the tie 
that bound him to Portugal and, in 1484, he 
left Lisbon secretly. Like many great projectors 



At flic Courts of the Noble. 37 

he had allowed his own affairs to go to ruin and 
was obliged to strtigle hard with poverty and 
had, as it were, to beg his way from court to 
court, to offer to princes the discovery of a world. 



CHAPTER VI. 
FERDINAND AND ISABELLA. 

PKRIOD OF GREAT PROSPERITY. — MIGRATIONS 
OF A MILITARY COURT. —MOUNTAIN FORTRESS 
OF THE MOORS. — PINCHING POVERTY. — HIS 
PLANS PRONOUNCED IMPOSSIBLE.- LEAVES 
FOR FRANCE. 

THE first record we have of Columbus, after 
his flight from Portugal, is in the south of 
Spain, where he laid his plan of discovery before 
the Duke of Medina Celi in the 5^ear 1485, who, 
though favorabh' impressed, was deterred bj^ the 
great importance of the enterprise. The duke, 
however, wrote to Queen Isabella, strongl}' 
recommending it to her consideration. The 
queen's reply was a request that Columbus be 
sent to her. 

The Spanish monarchy was at this time en- 
joying a period of great prosperity. The union 
of Ferdinand and Isabella had put an end to- the 
feuds between Arragon and Castile ; the Moors 



Ferdinand aiid Isabella. 39 

were pent up within the mountain boundaries of 
Granada, and the arms of Spain were continually 
pressing them into narrower limits ; and after 
eight hundred years of bitter strife the "King- 
dom of the Moors " was nearing its end and the 
chivalry of vSpain hoped soon to float the 
national standard over the magnificent fortress 
of the Alhambra. 

Ferdinand was a monarch of clear and com- 
prehensive genius, even in temper, devout in 
religion and indefatigable in business. Castile 
he obtained by marriage and Granada and 
Naples by conquest'. His forces had reduced to 
vassalage Tunis, Tripoli and Alg^iers and his 
court was, at this time, like a military camp 
where he entertained veterans who had distin- 
guished themselves in many conflicts. Isabella 
exceeded her husband in personal dignity, acute- 
ness of genius and grandeur of soul ; she infused 
a lofty and generous spirit into his sordid and 
calculating policy. 

When Columbus presented himself at court, 
he was disappointed in his hope of obtaining an 
immediate audience, but by command of the 
queen, he became the guest of the controller of 



40 ' ' San Salvador. ' ' 

the treasury who became his warm friend. 
While in Cordova, waiting for an audience with 
the queen, Columbus became attached to a lady 
of that city, Beatrix Knriquez. She was the 
mother of his second son, Fernando, who was 
born in 1487 and who afterwards became his 
father's historian. 

When the court removed to Salamanca, in 
1487, Columbus followed it there, and by the 
assistance of the Grand Cardinal, obtained ad- 
mission to the royal presence. He appeared at 
court with modesty and self-possession, and told 
his plan with eloquence and zeal ; his manner 
w^s noble and earnest ; his arguments simple 
and forcible. Ferdinand was cool and wary, and 
determined to be guided by the opinion of the 
most learned astronomers and cosmographers of 
his kingdom, who were commanded to hold con- 
ference with Columbus. Military events inter- 
rupted this conference, which was not held until 
1490. 

During this interval, Columbus received from 
the king of Portugal an invitation to return to 
his court, and another from Henry VII. of Eng- 
land, holding out promises of encouragement if 



P'erdinand and Isabella. 41 

he would visit him. These invitations he neg- 
lected, and during the long and painful delays, 
to which he -was subjected, he supported himself 
by making maps and charts, and by occasional 
donations from the sovereigns of Spain. All 
this time, he was the subject of scoffs and ridicule 
by the ignorant, who believed him to be a 
dreamer and a romancer. The very children 
pointed to their foreheads, as he passed, being 
taught to regard him as a sort of madman. 

When the long-adjourned conference was held 
toward the end of the year 1490, Columbus pre- 
sented the plan of his enterprise with force, sim- 
plicity and eloquence. His answers and argu- 
ments astonished the learned men arid convinced 
them of his ability and knowledge. At the 
close of the conference, the report sent to their 
majesties, was in substance, that the proposed 
scheme was vain and impossible. The Spanish 
monarchs, however, sent word to Columbus that 
the cares and expense of the war, they were en- 
gaged in, made it impossible for therri to engage 
in a new enterprise, but that when the war was 
concluded, they would have both time and incli- 
nation to treat with him. Columbus looked on 



42 " Sa7i Salvador 



) ) 



this indefinite postponement as a courtly refusal, 
and left Seville indignant at the loss of so many- 
precious years. Sad, weary, poor and disap- 
pointed he turned his back on the court, deter- 
mined to seek elsewhere the help which Spain 
had refused him. 



CHAPTER VII. 
ISABELLA IMMORTALIZES SPAIN. 

A BEGGAR AT THK GATE.— COI.UMBUS RECALLED. 
FALL OF GRANADA. — NEGOTIATIONS BROKEN 
OFF. — ISABELLA UNDERTAKES THE ENTER- 
PRISE. — PRINCELY REWARDS PROMISED AND 
CONFIRMED. 

ONE day a stranger on foot, in humble guise, 
but of distinguished air, accompanied by a 
boy, stopped at the gate of the convent of Santa 
Maria de Rabida, near the little seaport of Palos 
in Andalusia, and asked the porter for a little 
bread and water for his child. The prior of the 
convent was struck by the appearance of the 
stranger and entered into conversation with him. 
The stranger was Columbus. 

The prior, who was a man of much geograph- 
ical knowledge, was interested in the^.story told 
by his guest. He detained Columbus for sev- 
eral days and, learning from him that he 
intended to abandon Spain and go to the 
court of France, he requested him to delay 



43 



44 " >5'«7^ Salvador y 

his journey until he had time to communi- 
cate with Queen Isabella. Columbus readily 
consented and the good prior's letter was favor- 
ably answered by the queen. She invited Colum- 
bus to return, sent him money to defray the 
expenses of his journey and assured him of her 
help in his projected enterprise. 

Columbus was favorably received at the court, 
where he arrived in time to witness the memor- 
able surrender of Granada, by the last of the 
Moorish kings, and one of the most brilliant tri- 
umphs of Spanish chivalry. On every side were 
military rejoicings, the glitter of arms and the 
sound of music and festivity. Columbus, ob- 
scure, melancholy and dejected, beheld these 
rejoicings with indifference, so deeply was he 
imbued with the greatness and grandeur of his 
own enterprise. 

The time had now arrived when the monarchs 
of Spain stood pledged to attend to his proposal 
of a western expedition. They kept their word 
and appointed persons, with full authority, to 
negotiate with him. For his services in the un- 
dertaking, Columbus demanded that he should 
be invested with the titles and privileges of 



Isabella Inimortalizes Spain. 45 

admiral and vicero}" over the countries he should 
discover, together with one-tenth of the gains 
either by trade or conquest. In these negotia- 
tions he felt that he was treating of an empire and 
demanded princely conditions. His terms w^ere 
refused, and many were indignant at what they 
considered the exorbitant demands of a needy 
adventurer. Other rewards were offered to him 
but he would not cede one point and the negotia- 
tions were broken off. 

Nearly twenty 3^ears had elapsed since Col- 
umbus had first announced his theory of discov- 
er}^ in the West, during that time he had applied 
in vain to various courts, had suffered poverty, 
neglect, ridicule and disappointment, but noth- 
ing could shake his confidence in his theory or 
weaken his determination. In February, 1492, 
he set off for Cordova, with the intention of 
visiting France. 

The friends of Columbus, filled with distress 
at his departure, and prompted by ^. zeal in his 
cause, obtained an audience with the queen. 
They explained to her the irreparable loss that 
it would be to the nation to allow him to depart ; 
they pointed out the soundness and practicability 



46 '' Sa?i Salvador.'' 

of his plans ; and the}^ assured her that it was 
not only worth the trouble and expense but that 
it was her duty to explore the wonders and the 
secrets of the universe. The generous spirit of 
Isabella was enkindled and she declared with 
enthusiasm, " I undertake the enterprise and 
will pledge my jewels to raise the necessary 
funds." Columbus had pursued his lonety 
journe}^ about two leagues from Granada when 
he was overtaken b}" a courier from the queen, 
who summoned him to return. He hesitated, 
but being informed of Isabella's promise, he re- 
turned confiding in her noble and generous 
character. The benignit}^ with which Columbus 
was received on his return, atoned for all past 
neglect. 

A perfect understanding was arrived at, 
articles of agreement were drawn up and 
signed by the king and queen in which the titles, 
dignities and prerogatives of viceroy and admiral 
were confirmed and made hereditary in his 
family. The kindly Isabella conferred a favor 
on Columbus before he left the court that pleased 
him very much. She appointed his son, Diego, 
page to Prince Juan, the heir apparent, an honor 



Isabella Immorlalizes Spam. 47 

granted only to the vSons of persons of distin- 
guished rank. Thus the sordid, calculating 
policy of Ferdinand was counteracted by the 
generosity and grandeur of a woman's noble 
nature. To Isabella, Spain owes her share in 
the discovery of the New World. 



CHAPTER VIII. 
THE ADMIRAL HOISTS HIS FLAG. 

FITTING OUT A FI,EET. — THREE CARAVELS 
AND ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY MEN.« — 
THIRD OF AUGUST 1492. — DELAY AT THE 
CANARIES. — ON THE ATLANTIC. — DIFFICUL- 
TIES, DANGERS AND DISTURBANCE. — MYSTERY 
OF THE OCEAN SOLVED. — LAND, AHEAD ! 

COLUMBUS hastened to his good friend, the 
prior of La Rabida, not as a mendicant, this 
time, but as the admiral, chosen by the sover- 
eigns of Spain and authorized b}^ them, to fit out 
a fleet and to command it, in a vo^^age of West- 
ern discovery. After 3'^ears of vexatious delaj^ 
pinching poverty and continuous struggle, he 
was about to carry out, in his fifty-sixth year, 
the great object of his life's labor. 

On the morning of the twent3^-third of May, 
1492, Columbus proceeded to the church of St. 
George, where the alcalde, the regidors and the 
inhabitants of Palos, had been notified to meet 
him. In the porch of the church a royal order 

was read, by a notary public, commanding them 

48 



The Admiral Hoists His Flag. 49 

to furnish ships and men and to place them at 
the disposal of Columbus ; and further orders 
were read instructing them to furnish sup- 
plies and assistance to him, at reasonable prices. 

At first the authorities promised to obey, but 
when the nature of the expedition became 
known, dismay fell on the whole community. 
The owners of vessels refused to furnish them, 
and the boldest sailors shrank from a cruise on 
the unknown ocean. No stronger proof can be 
offered of the boldness of this undertaking than 
the extreme dread shown by this community 
made up of the bravest seamen of the age. At 
length Martin Alonzo Pinzon and his brother, 
both navigators of great Experience, volunteered 
and others were compelled to serve, and by the 
beginning of August every difficulty had been 
overcome and three vessels were ready for sea. 

The largest of the three caravels was decked 
and called the Santa Maria. On board this ship 
Columbus hoisted his flag. The second was 
called the Pinta and the third, the Nina. There 
were on board a physician, a surgeon, the royal 
notary, private adventurers, servants and ninety 
mariners, making in all one hundred and twenty 



50 ** Sail Salvador y 

persons. Columbus and his crew entered upon 
their hazardous enterprise with the mOvSt devout 
and affecting religious ceremonials, committing 
themselves to the guidance and protection of 
heaven. 

On the third of August, 1492, Columbus 
sailed from the little port of Palos, steering 
directly for the Canary Islands. His exultation 
at finding himself at last under way, was 
checked by his want of confidence in his crew. 
His apprehensions were correct. He was de- 
tained three weeks at the Canaries repairing the 
Pinta's rudder, which, he surmised, had been 
injured, in order that she might be sent back. 
On the sixth of September they left the Cana- 
ries and steered west across the unknown parts of 
the Atlantic. When his crew lost sight of land 
their hearts failed them. Behind them were 
country, family, friends and life ; before them 
chaos, m3\ster3^ and peril. The admiral tried to 
inspire them with his own glorious anticipations 
of a land teeming with gold and precious stones, 
nor were these hopes held out for mere purposes 
of deception, Columbus believed that they would 
realize them all. 



The Ad?)ural Hoists His Flag. 51 

The variation of the compass, which he first 
noticed about two hundred leagues west of the 
Canaries, filled his crew with fear of being left 
on the trackless ocean without a guide. Colum- 
bus taxed his science and his ingenuity to allay 
their fears but had only partial success. At 
one time the sight of a bird filled them with 
hope, then the flash of a meteor, struck them 
with awe ; the trade winds prevailing from the 
east they thought would prevent them from ever 
returning. Fields of weeds one day were proofs 
of the nearness of land and the next they filled 
them with fear of' certain destruction. The 
admiral with great patience tried ta dispel these 
fears. Terror, however, multiplies and varies 
imaginary dangers, particularly on the ocean. 
They fed each other's discontent, and in secret 
they called him a desperado, bent upon mak- 
ing himself notorious. Every league traveled 
brought him nearer to the realization of his 
hopes, filled them with terror. W^re they to 
sail on and be the authors of their own destruc- 
tion ? Why not throw him into the sea ? The 
situation was dail}^ becoming more critical, but 
Columbus maintained a severe and steady 



52 " Sail Salvador.''^ 

countenance. He had overcome the difficult}^ of 
fitting out his fleet, had passed, so far, safely 
through ocean dangers, was he now to be 
thwarted by the disturbance of a mutinous crew ? 

"Land! land! I claim \^\j reward, senor," 
shouted a voice from the Pinta. The admiral, 
who had been studying his map, threw himself 
on his knees and the whole crew joined him in 
repeating the Gloria in Excelsis. The convic- 
tion became general and the j 03^ excessive, but 
the morning light put an end to their hopes 
as to a dream, and as a consequence they sank 
into a dejection even greater than before. They 
said that thej^ had done enough to show their 
courage and the^^ insisted upon turning home- 
ward and abandoning the voj^age as hope- 
less. Columbus endeavored to pacif}' them but 
could not. He then assumed a bold and decided 
tone and told them that the expedition had been 
sent out by the Sovereigns of Spain and he was 
determined to persevere to the end. He was 
now at open defiance with his crew and the situ- 
ation was desperate. 

The next day, fortunately, the evidence ^of 
land in their immediate vicinity, no longer 



The Admiral Hoists His Flag. 53 

admitted of doubt. After picking up a branch 
with berries on it, and then a staff artificially 
carved, Columbus made an impressive address. 
From present appearances, he said he thought it 
probable that they would make land that very 
night. Gloom and mutiny now gave way to 
hopes of discovery. At 2 o'clock in the morn- 
ing a gun gave the joyful signal of land. The 
reaction was sudden, complete and extraordinary. 
The gloom and terror of the voyage was for- 
gotten, and the sailors vied with each other in 
thanks and gratitude to their commander. 

It would be difficult to conceive what were the 
thousrhts of Columbus at such a moment. The 
great mystery of the oce^n had been revealed, 
his theory had been triumphantly established 
and he had secured a glory as durable as the 
world itself ; but what was the land before him 
covered with darkness — would the morning light 
reveal a savage wilderness or the gilded cities of 
Oriental civilization ? 



CHAPTER IX. 
COI.UMBUS IN THE NEW WORLD. 

TWELFTH OF OCTOBER, 1492. — SAN SAIyVADOR. — 
NAKED BUT HOSPITABI^E SAVAGES. — SEARCH 
FOR CIPANGO. — GOI.DEN DREAMS. — HAMACS. — 
NATIVE CIGARS. — SHIPWRECK. — A FORTRESS 
BUILT. — LEFT IN AN UNKNOWN LAND. 

IT was on Friday morning, the twelfth of 
October, 1492, that Columbus first beheld the 
New World. He saw as the day dawned, a 
level island, several leagues in extent, covered 
with trees, and although it was uncultivated, it 
was inhabited. Richly attired in scarlet and 
carrying the standard of Spain, he landed and 
solemnly took possession and gave the island the 
name of San Salvador. 

The natives beheld the ships with astonish- 
ment and supposed them to be monsters but 
when they saw the boats approach the shore and 
a number of strange beings clad in garments of 
various colors or in shining armour, they fled in 

terror. To the Spaniards the natives were no 

5+ 



Coluvibus in the New World. 55 

less objects of curiosity. They were copper- 
colored with agreeable features, disfigured by 
paint ; they were well shaped, of moderate 
stature, had long coarse hair and were perfectly 
naked. The only weapons the}?- had were lances 
pointed with flint or bone. They were friendly 
and gentle and after they recovered from their 
first terror they approached the Spaniards with 
timidity and admiration. Columbus supposed 
that he had landed at the extremity of India, 
and called the natives Indians, a name which has 
since been extended to all the aborginals of the 
New World. "^ 

The admiral having examined the island, dis- 
tributed beads and small bells tos the natives, 
set off on the fourteenth, taking seven of the 
natives with him, that they might learn the 
Spanish language and serve as interpreters. 
The next day Columbus took possession of an 
island to which he gave the name of Santa 
Maria de la Concepcion. The natives mani- 
fested the same astonishment, gen4;leness, and 
simplicity as those of San Salvador, but they 
appeared to be more ingenious and intelligent. 
Their habitations were constructed in the form 



56 *' San Salvador.'^ 

of circular tents, made of branches of trees and 
palm leaves. They were kept very neat and 
clean and were usually sheltered under spread- 
ing trees. For beds they used nets of cotton, 
which extended from two posts. They called 
them hamacs, a name which has since come into 
general use. 

Next he visited an island which he named 
Fernandina, in honor of the king. " The coun- 
try," says Columbus, "was fresh and green as 
Andalusia in the month of May." Cotton was 
the article of the greatest value, and the natives 
as in the other islands seemed to enjoy their 
simple mode of life. 

Sailing south, according to the directions of 
his native guides, in search of a mine of gold 
and a monarch of vast wealth, he found an 
island of great beauty, but neither mine nor 
monarch. Here he saw birds of great variety 
and beauty, trees of a thousand species, and an 
abundance of fishes which rivaled the birds in 
the brilliancy of their color. To this island he 
gave the name of his royal patroness, Isabella. 

For several days the admiral coasted about 
seeking in vain for the wealthy island of 



Columbus in the New World. 57 

Cipango, described by Marco Polo. From the 
natives he heard of an island called Cuba, which 
he concluded to visit, and after exploring it he 
would go to the mainland of India, which he 
thought must be within easy distance. He 
would there deliver in person to the Grand 
Khan, the letters of the Spanish Monarchs and 
then return to Spain, trimphantly, having ac- 
complished the great object of his voyage. He 
thought that he was on the eastern shores of 
India, as Asia was then called, whereas he was 
on the vShores of a new continent. 

After four days' sail from Isabella, they 
arrived at an island of vast size with high 
mountains, fertile valleya, and n6ble rivers. 
Here he landed and gave it the name of Juana 
in honor of prince Juan. He no longer doubted 
that it was the looked for Cipango. His desire 
now was to find its magnificent city and its 
wealthy king. One of the natives told him 
that there was a place in the interior abounding 
with gold. Anxious to reach there he sent two 
envoys to seek the monarch and present to him 
letters and presents from the monarchs of Spain. 
At the present day many will smile at this 



58 ** Sa7t Salvador,'''' 

embassy to a naked savage chieftain in Cuba, in 
mistake for an Oriental potentate, but such was 
this voyage, a series of golden dreams, built on 
the deluding volume of Marco Polo. 

On this island, the mariners found the potato, 
little valued at that time, but a more precious 
acquisition to man than many of the rare spices 
of the East. Here they also saw the natives 
with certain dried herbs which they rolled up in 
a leaf, and lighting one end put the other in 
their mouths and puff out the smoke. A roll 
of this kind the}^ called a tobacco, a name since 
given to the plant of which the roll was made. 

When the two ambassadors returned their re- 
port put an end to many of the splendid fancies 
of Columbus. The}^ informed him that there 
was no appearance of gold or gems, they saw 
fields of potatoes, maize or Indian corn and large 
quantities of cotton. From Cuba the admiral 
turned back ; had he continued his course he 
might have discovered Florida or Mexico, cer- 
tainly he would have found his mistake in con- 
sidering Cuba as a portion of the mainland. 

When Columbus left Cuba, his signals were 
unattended to by the Pinta, which was consid- 



Columbus in the Nezv World. 59 

erably to the eastward. He suspected that her 
commander, Pinzon, either intended to take 
upon himself a separate command or to hasten 
back to Spain and carry oif the glory of the dis- 
covery. 

While steering beyond the extremity of Cuba 
the admiral descried land, the general features 
of which he thought resembled Spain, hence he 
called it Hispaniola. The natives came to the 
ships in their canoes, bringing presents from the 
cacique and a friendly invitation to vivSit him. 
About midnight, Christmas eve, the sea being 
calm the admiral retired to rest. The steers- 
man taking advanta'ge of his absence gave the 
helm to one of the ship boys and wejit to sleep. 
The current soon carried the ship on a sand- 
bank. Columbus was the first on deck but it 
was too late to save her. When the cacique 
heard of the misfortune of his guest he sent the 
natives in their canoes to his assistance. All 
the ship's effects were saved but she became a 
total wreck. The rites of hospitality were 
scrupulously observed and houses were built to 
shelter the seamen. 

The shipwrecked crew grew fond of their easy 



6o '^ Sa7i Salvador.^' 

and idle mode of life on the island. They told 
the admiral that, from the wreck they could con- 
struct a fortress and maintain themselves for a 
year, until he returned from Spain. Since the 
desertion of one vessel and the wreck of another 
had left him but one old caravel, he determined 
to return to Spain, lest some disaster would de- 
stroy every record of his discovery. 

In ten days the fort was completed. Ammu- 
nition was stored in the vault and the guns were 
mounted on the tower. Columbus selected 
thirty-nine of his best men to remain on the 
island, among them a carpenter, a physician, a 
tailor and a gunner. The admiral made an 
earnCvSt address to them on their duties. The 
parting was a painful one between the little gar- 
rison and their companions who were returning 
home. The signal gun was fired, the anchor 
weighed, the ship's crew gave a parting cheer, 
and left their companions in the wilderness of an 
unknown world, where they became the first 
victims of European greed and lust, in the New 
World ; and the first holocaust offered to Indian 
revenge. 



CHAPTER X. 

"SEE, THE CONQUERING HERO 

COMES." 

HOMEWARD VOYAGE. — VIOIvENT STORMS.— A 
MESSAGE FROM THE SEA. — ARRIVAL. AT THE 
AZORES.— JE Algous Y OF THE PORTUGUESE. — 
RECEPTION AT PALOS. — A ROMAN TRIUMPH. 
— COAT-OF-ARMS AND A LEGEND. 

IT was on the fourth of January, 1493, that 
Columbus set sail on kis homeward voyage, 
during which he met with storms of such vio- 
lence, that had but one-tenth part of them at- 
tended him in his outward voyage, he never 
would have discovered the new world. When 
they had been out two days they sighted the 
Pinta, whose captain informed the admiral that 
stress of weather and not wilful desertion had 
separated the ships. 

On the ninth they anchored in an extensive 
bay. Here they found the natives of ferocious 

aspect and hideously painted ; they were armed 

61 



62 '^ San Salvador.' '' 

with war clubs, bows and swords made of palm 
wood, as heavy as iron. When a boat was sent 
ashore, the crew was attacked by a^ band -of fifty 
natives. The Spaniards wounded two and put 
the rest to flight. This is the first record of na- 
tive blood shed by white men in the new world. 
Columbus gave this place the name of the Gulf 
of Arrows ; it is now the Gulf of Samana. 

A few days after leaving this gulf, they were 
caught in a violent wind and heavy sea and 
it was with the greatest difficulty and danger 
that they continued their course. The frail car- 
avels labored terribly and they were obliged to 
take in all sail. The Pinta again was lost sight 
of. Columbus feared that she had foundered 
and that his own feeble bark might at any mo- 
ment be engulfed. He wrote an account of his 
discoveries, placed it in a barrel, which he flung 
into the sea, in the hope that it would reach the 
Spanish coast ; and both he and his crew made 
a vow, that if spared, they would go in proces- 
sion barefooted when they landed to some church 
dedicated to the Holy Virgin. 

On the morning of the fifteenth of February 
they sighted land in the east-north-east. It was 



''See, the Conquering Hero Conies y 63 

St. Mary's, one qf the Azores. The governor at 
first treated them kindly and sent fresh provis- 
ions on board, but when half the crew went 
ashore to perform their pilgrimage to the chapel 
of the island, he had them arrested. Columbus 
was indignant and produced his letters patent 
showing his rank and dignity as a Spanish ad- 
miral and viceroy. After examining the papers, 
the Portuguese governor liberated the prisoners. 
Such was the discoverer's first reception in the 
old world, forming a striking contrast to sym- 
pathy and hospitality he received from the naked 
savages of the new world. 

After putting to sea, the admiral again en- 
countered contrary gales and a boisterous sea 
and was driven by the violence of the storm, with 
all his sails rent, into the mouth of the Tagus. 
He immediately sent a courier to the monarchs 
of Spain with tidings of his discovery. He also 
wrote to the king of Portugal. Curiosity be- 
came excited and boats and barges crowded 
round the caravel, freighted with the people and 
the productions of a newly discovered world. 

While in Portugal Columbus visited the king, 
who received him with great ceremony. Many 



64 " Sa7i Salvador y 

of the courtiers present at the reception weie 
those who had only a few months before scoffed 
at him as a dreamer and now they considered the 
honors heaped upon him a humiliation to them. 
This was an indication of the perpetual jealousy 
with which Columbus was to be requited 
throughout his life for one of the greatest bene- 
fits that ever man conferred upon his fellow 
beings. Some went so far as to suggest his assas- 
sination. Provoke him into a quarrel, said they, 
and then dispatch him as if in honorable encoun- 
ter. Others suggested that Portuguese mariners 
should be sent out before he could fit out a 
second expedition. The latter advice the king 
secretly but promptly resolved to put into exe- 
cution. 

After an absence of nearly seven months and 
a half, Columbus arrived at the little seaport of 
Palos, on the fifteenth of March, 1493, amid the 
shouts and acclamations of the people. Bells 
were rung, stores were closed and a holiday 
observed ; and in a transport of joy and grati- 
tude they formed a procession to the church to 
return thanks for the wonderful discovery. 

The letter of Columbus produced a great sen- 



'^ See, the Conqueri7ig Hero Comes. ^'' 65 

sation at the Spanish Court. Western discovery, 
following so closely on the conquest of Granada, 
dazzled even the monarchs themselves, by the 
acquisition of a new empire of indefinite extent 
and boundless wealth. Columbus received an 
invitation to the court addressed to him by the 
title of "Don Christopher Columbus, our Ad- 
miral of the Ocean Sea, and Viceroy and Gover- 
nor of the Islands discovered in the Indies." 

The fame of his discovery had spread through 
the nation, and his journey to the court was like 
the progress of a monarch. His entry into Bar- 
celona has been compared to a Roman triumph. 
The procession was headed by ,the Indians, 
painted according to their savage fashion, and 
decorated with their rude ornaments of gold ; 
after these came birds, animals, plants and the 
gold brought from the newly discovered islands. 
Columbus, on horseback, surrounded by a caval- 
cade of Spanish noblemen, was greeted as a 
conquering hero. To receive him v^ith suitable 
pomp, the throne was placed in public, under a 
rich canopy of brocade of gold. "When the ad- 
miral approached, the king and queen arose, as 
if receiving a person of the highest rank, and 



66 * ' San Salvador, ' ' 

ordered him to seat himself in their presence, a 
rare honor in this proud and punctilious court. 
When he had given an account of his expedi- 
tion, the sovereigns went on their knees, and all 
present followed their example, while the 
Te Deu7n was chanted by the choir of the royal 
chapel. Columbus was the object of universal 
praise, and wherever he appeared he was sur- 
rounded by an admiring multitude. 

Notwithstanding the universal enthusiasm, no 
one was aware of the real importance of the dis- 
covery ; no one knew that this was a totally dis- 
tinct portion of the globe, separated by oceans 
from the ancient world. The erroneous opinion 
of the discoverer was universally adopted, that 
Cuba was the extreme end of the Asiatic conti- 
nent, and that the adjacent islands were in the 
Indian seas. The lands were therefore called the 
West Indies, and as they were unknown to the 
ancients, they were called the New World. 

Columbus received instructions to prepare for a 
second voyage, and he lost no time; in making 
out a memorandum of the ships, men and sup- 
plies necessary. During his stay at Barcelona, 
the admiral had access at all times to the royal 



' ' See^ the Conquering Hero Cotnes. ' ' 67 

presence, and marks of personal favor were con- 
stantly bestowed upon him. 

To perpetuate in his family the glory of his 
achievements, a coat-of-arms was assigned him, 
in which the royal arms, a castle and a lion, were 
quartered, with his proper bearings, which were 
a group of islands surrounded by waves and the 
motto: "To Castile and lyeon, Columbus gave 
a new world." 

It would be well, for the credit of the human 
race, had the story of Columbus ended here. No 
greatness was ever acquired b}^ more incontesta- 
ble benefits conferred on mankind, yet none ever 
drew on its possessor more unremitting jealousy, 
or involved him in more unmerited distress and 
difficultv. 



CHAPTER XI. 
IN THE SUNSHINE OF ROYAL FAVOR. 

SECOND VOYAGE. — INDIA HOUSE. — A MOTLEY 

It 

CROWD. — THE ANCHOR WEIGHED. — MASSACRE 
AT LA NAVIDAD. — AMONG THE CARIES. — THE 
FIRST CITY. — A STAIN ON THE ESCUTCHEON. 

AFTER receiving ever}^ mark of royal favor 
and public honor, and having his titles 
and prerogatives confirmed, Columbus left the 
court on the twenty-eight of May, to prepare 
for a second voj^age. His departure from Bar- 
celona, like his entry, was made the occasion 
of every demonstration of honor, gratitude and 
confidence. 

To assist Columbus in his preparations, and to 
regulate the transaction of business with the 
new world, Juan Rodriquez de Fonseca, a high 
ecclesiastical dignitary, was appointed to super- 
intend Indian affairs. This position he held for 
nearly thirty years. An office and custom- 
house was established at Seville for this purpose 

68 



In the Sunshine of Royal Favor. 69 

and was the origin of the Royal India House. 
Fonseca early became a secret but active oppo- 
nent of the admiral and frequently impeded the 
progress of his expeditions. 

Columbus hastened to Andalusia where he 
secured a fleet of seventeen ships which were 
prepared with speed for the expedition. The 
pilots and seamen were chosen with great care ; 
mechanics and husbandmen were engaged ; 
horses, cattle and domestic animals of all kinds 
were provided ; and an abundant supply of 
provisions, seeds and merchandise were taken 
on board. 

The number of 'persons permitted to embark 
was fully twelve hundred. The^war with the 
Moors being over, many restless spirits were 
eager for employment ; the account of a land 
teeming with gold and gems excited the cupidity 
of others ; to all was open a vast field for wild 
adventure and romantic enterprise. Probably no 
fleet ever carried so motley a crowd. The hardy 
mariner, the punctilious cavalier^ the roving 
adventurer, the greedy speculator, the industri- 
ous husbandman and the pale and pious mis- 
sionary, each earnest in his vocation, were there. 



1 

yo ^' Sa7i Salvador.'^ 

Enterprise, ambition, novelty, profit and relig- 
ious zeal, each had its representative. 

The departure of Columbus on his second 
voyage was very different from his departure on 
the first. Now all was confidence and anima- 
tion, then all was gloom and fear. On th€ 
twenty-fifth of September, 1493, three large 
ships and fourteen caravels, answered the 
admiral's signal by weighing anchor and before 
sunrise the whole fleet was under sail from the 
Bay of Cadiz to the New World. 

About the first of October the fleet arrived at 
the Canaries. Having taken in a supply of 
water and provisions, the voyage was resumed 
on the seventh. The commander of each ship 
received from Columbus a sealed letter of in- 
structions to be opened only in case of separa- 
tion. The voyage was prosperous and without 
any incident of note. 

On Sunday, the third of November, land was 
sighted. On account of the day on which it 
was discovered, it was called Dominica. Not 
finding good anchorage here Columbus con- 
tinued his voyage through the archipelago, 
until he reached the island to which he gave 



In the Sunshine of Royal Favor. 71 

the name of Guadaloupe. This he found to be 
one of the islands of the Caribs, a fierce and 
warlike tribe that made war on the inhabitants 
of the neighboring islands. These predatory 
savages were the terror of the seas, and from 
human bones found in their houses, the Span- 
iards were convinced that they were cannibals. 
As the fleet sailed further through this beauti- 
ful archipelago, many islands rose to view and 
were taken possession of by the Spaniards. The 
admiral sent a boat, well-manned, on shore at 
Santa Cruz to get water and gather information. 
While at the village, which was deserted, they 
saw a canoe arrive' in view of the ships. The 
Indians, in the canoe, were so ^amazed and 
entranced by the sight of the ships, that the 
Spaniards in the boat came close to them, unper- 
ceived. The Indians attempted to escape, but 
failing they used their bows with the dexterity 
of trained archers. There were two women in 
the canoe, who fought as fiercely as the men. 
W len the canoe was capsized the ravages con- 
tinued to fight while swimming and discharged 
their arrows, with as much effect and facility as 
if on land. In this skirmish these fierce Caribs 



72 " San Salvador.'' 

used posioned arrows and one of the Spaniards 
died from a slight wound by a poisoned arrow. 

Continuing his course, the admiral arrived at 
a great island, since known as Porto Rico. It 
was fertile and populous but during the visit 
of the fleet not a human being was seen. After 
a couple of days at this island, Columbus sailed 
for Hispaniola, where he arrived on the twenty- 
second of November. 

The ferocity of the Caribs, who were the terror 
of the natives, made the admiral anxious about 
his companions of the first voyage, who were left 
at La Navidad. Having arrived opposite the 
fort he anchored and as it was night he ordered 
signal guns to be fired but there was no response. 
All was darkness and deathlike silence. The 
next day the fortress was found in ruins and pre- 
sented the appearance of having been sacked and 
burned. The story learned from the natives and 
afterwards confirmed was, briefly, the Spaniards 
had quarrelled and separated, those in the fort 
had been surprised and massacred and those who 
had strayed away met a like fate. So ended the 
first Spanish colony of the New World. 

To build a city and to found a settlement, 



hi the Sims /line of Royal Favor. 73 

Columbus considered his first and most important 
duty and as he could not find a favorable loca- 
tion where he now was he determined to go to 
lya Plata. Stress of weather, however, obliged 
him to put into a harbor before he reached there, 
and the natural advantages that the locality pre- 
sented convinced him that he could not find a 
place more suitable for his purpose. The soil 
was fertile, the climate temperate and a plain of 
great extent and verdure was watered by two 
rivers which flowed into the spacious harbour. 

An encampment was formed, and in a few days 
the whole scene was one of great activity ; stores 
and merchandise were landed, artisans were busy, 
streets and squares were laid out and a church, 
storehouse and dwellings were erected ; every 
one exerted himself in building the first Spanish 
city of the New World, which, in honor of his 
patroness, Columbus named Isabella. 

The arduous duties and incessant vigilance 
imp' sed on Columbus at this time overpowered 
his trength and for several weeks he was con- 
fined to his bed. He was therefore prevented 
from personally exploring the interior of the 
country as he had intended. From amongst the 



74 ^^ Sa7i Salvador y 

cavaliers who had accompanied the expedition, 
he chose Alonzo de Ojeda, a daring soldier and 
a man of great personal endowment, to explore 
the interior of the island. The information was 
necessary as he was about to send back ten of 
his ships to Spain and he felt sure that the report 
of the expedition would confirm the statements 
which he had already made to the Spanish mon- 
archs. Ojeda set out with a small force and 
struck directly into the interior, where the 
natives received them with kindness and hospi- 
tality. They saw evidence of gold in the streams 
and mountains, and received many presents of 
the precious metal. Ojeda 's report confirmed 
the admiral's conjectures of the wealth of the 
country. 

Twelve of the ships were sent to Spain, carry- 
ing specimens of the gold, found by Ojeda, with 
an account of the expedition and the labors of 
the colony in founding the city of Isabella. In 
his letters to the sovereigns, Columbus proposes 
to establish an exchange, where the Carib cap- 
tives could be bartered as slaves to those who 
would furnish live stock to the colony. The 
admiral yielded to this practice of the time in 



In the Sunshine of Royal Favor. 75 

hope of lessening the expense of the colony and 
improving the cannibal natives. The sophistry 
of improving the savage by enslaving him in a 
Christian country, has been productive of the 
most pernicious results. Many circumstances 
tend to mitigate the brutality of this proposition, 
nothing can fully excUvSe it. 



CHAPTER XII. 
THE PARADISE OF THE INDIAN. 

PURSUIT OF GOIvD. — DISCONTENT AND MUTINY.— 
DISCOVERY OF JAMAICA. — THE CACIQUE'S 
BRACELETS. — CAI.UMNIATORS AT COURT. — 
AQUADO'S ARROGANT ASSUMPTION. — VOYAGE 
HOME. 

COLUMBUS having dispatched the greater 
part of his fleet to Spain, and having re- 
covered from his recent illness determined to 
make an excursion into the interior of the coun- 
try, partly for the purpose of impressing the 
natives by an exhibition of Europern power, but 
principally for the purpose of opening up with 
the new city commercial relations and making it 
the depot of the golden products of the country. 
The admiral took with him four hundred well 
armed men. The rude road, constructed during 
this expedition from Isabella across the mount- 
ain of Ciboa, still exists. He was hospitably 

received by the natives, and having informed 

76 



The Paradise of the Indian, 77 

himself fully of the country and its products, he 
built a fort, placed in it a garrison of fifty-six 
men, and gave it in command to Pedro Margarite. 
This was the first important visit of v^hite men 
to the interior, and the first step in the march of 
civilization into the luxuraht' paradise of the In- 
dian. 

The city of Isabella was now assuming form, 
but the exposure and privation, inevitable in 
the new colony, produced sickness and discon- 
tent. Many were disappointed in their hopes of 
immediate wealth, and annoyed with the labors 
imposed upon them ; some of the most daring 
even resolved to seize the ships in the harbor 
and return to Spain. This mutiny was dis- 
covered by the admiral and the ring leaders pun- 
ished. Columbus then sent all the men that 
could be spared to visit the Caciques and explore 
their territories, and he determined to make 
further expeditions with the fleet. It was on 
this voyage that he took possession of a vast and 
lofty island, to which he gave the name of San- 
tiago, but which has retained its Indian name of 
Jamaica. 

The Indians, led by, Caonabo, a warlike and 



78 ' * San Salvador, ' ' 

fearless Cacique, decended from the Caribs, gave 
the colony at this time much trouble. Ojeda, 
who led the expedition into the interior some 
time before, offered to capture him and deliver 
him into the hands of Columbus. He selected 
ten bold horsemen and started for the Cacique's 
territory. He found Caonabo, whom he ap- 
proached with great respect, as if paying a 
friendly visit. He invited him to visit Isabella 
and was astonished to find that though the wily 
chieftain consented, he did so only in company 
with a powerful force of his warriors. After 
several days' march, Ojeda persuaded the Caci- 
que to mount a war-horse and to adorn himself 
with what he assured him were regal ornaments, 
but which were highly polished manacles. Caon- 
abo fell into the trap and Ojeda rode with him in 
triumph to Isabella and delivered him into the 
hands of the admiral. The capture of this 
chieftain led to a war with the Indians which 
ended by the viceroy imposing tribute. 

Four ships brought from Spain an ample sup- 
ply of provisions, and an invitation from the 
sovereigns asking Columbus to return to Spain 
and assist them with his advice in adjusting the 



The Paradise of the Indian. 79 

claims of Portugal to the lately discovered lands. 
Columbus was unable to go, but he determined, 
to send his brother Diego, with letters and all 
the gold he could collect. He also sent about 
five hundred Indian prisoners, whom he sug- 
gested might be sold as slaves. The custom of 
the times only can be pleaded in extenuation of 
this act. 

Many of those who returned to Spain, disap- 
pointed and discontented, accused Columbus of 
deceiving the monarchs by extravagant state- 
ments and charged him with cruelty to the 
common people ar^d of treating with indignity 
Spanish gentlemen of rank. Friar Boyle and 
Commander Margarite, each of whom deserted 
his post of duty, were active in this endeavor to 
lessen the popularity of Columbus. To some 
extent they were successful. 

The result of the calumniations was that the 
king instructed Juan Aquado to visit the colony 
and there collect information as to the govern- 
ment of Columbus, the conduct of persons in 
office and if any abuses existed, the measures by 
which they could be remedied. Aquado had 
been recommended by Columbus to the sover- 



8o " San Salvador.'" 

eigns, and he was appointed by them as a mark 
of confidence in the viceroy. Aquado not only 
forgot his gratitude, but mistook the nature of 
his commission, and instead of collecting infor- 
mation, assumed an air of arrogant authority. 
Columbus was, at this time, in the interior of the 
island. When he returned he found that the as- 
sumed authority of Aquado had increased the 
discontent, and that every culprit in the colony 
had become an accuser. He resolved to go im- 
mediately to Spain. 

He set out on the tenth of March, 1496, with 
two caravels into which he crowded two hundred 
and twenty-five persons. After working his way 
slowly against the trade-winds and suffering 
much from want of provisions, he arrived in the 
Bay of Cadiz, on the eleventh of June. Soon 
after his arrival the admiral received an invita- 
tion to the court, where he was received with 
distinguished favor. 



CHAPTER XIII. 
A PRISONER IN CHAINS. 

PROJECTED ENTERPRISES. — THIRD VOYAGE. — 
CRIMINALS FOR COLONISTS. — A GLIMPSE OF 
THE CONTINENT.^ROLDAN'S REBELLION. — 
BOBADILLA APPOINTED COMMISSIONER. — CO- 
LUMBUS A PRISONER. 

AT court, Columbus gave not only an ac- 
count of the discoveries that he had made, 
during his voyage, but he also gave in detail a 
statement of the enterpri-ses which' he proposed 
to make in the future, in which he was confident 
of making even more important and more exten- 
sive discoveries. For that purpose he asked for 
ships and supplies. This request the sovereigns 
promised to comply with, but the king lavished 
the revenues in operations, which were of more 
importance to the ambitious monarch than the 
acquisition of distant and uncultivated islands. 
It had taken Columbus many years to convince 
princes that there was undiscovered land, and 

8i 



82 " Sa?i Salvador.''' 

now that it had been discovered he seemed to 
have almost equal trouble to prove to them the 
advantages of it. 

The proposals of Columbus were postponed 
and neglected until the vSpring of 1497, even then 
it was with difficult}^ that he procured ships or 
men. The difficult}^ of finding volunteers led to 
the adoption of a measure that was a fruitful 
source of trouble. The sentences of criminals 
were commuted and they were taken to the new 
settlements. The death of Prince Juan, and the 
enmity of Fonseca, combined to delay and em- 
barrass Columbus. 

.At length, on the thirtieth of May, 1498, he 
set sail with a squadron of six vessels and took 
a course much further to the south than he had 
done in his previous voyages. The weather was 
cloudy and opprCvSsive, the seams of his ships 
were leaky, provisions were spoiled and the sup- 
ply of water almost exhausted when, fortunately, 
at the end of July, land was seen ahead. The 
three high peaks of one mountain suggested its 
name to Columbus who called it I^a Trinidad, 
which it still bears. 

While coasting around the newly discovered 



A Prisoner ifi Chains. 83 

island, Columbus got a glimpse of the continent, 
but supposing it to be an island, he gave it the 
name of La Isla Santa. Like another great 
leader of men, he viewed from a distance the 
Promised Land which he was doomed never to 
enter ; but unlike the Hebrew lawgiver, he knew 
not on what he gazed and was deprived of the 
pleasure which that knowledge would have af- 
forded him. 

When Columbus returned to Spain, two and a 
half years before, he appointed his brother, Don 
Bartholomew, Adelantado, a title equivalent to 
deputy-governor. ' Bartholomew brought the 
natives into subjection by sagacious manage- 
ment, but the European colony presented a con- 
tinual scene of misery and discontent. Great 
trouble was made by Francisco Roldan, a man 
who was under great obligations to the admiral, 
who from obscurity had raised him to the posi- 
tion of alcalde, or justice of the peace. 

Roldan gathered around him the,- vicious and 
the discontented and increased his forces by 
promises of free living and of sensual enjoyment 
among the Indians. Emboldened by success he 
threw off all allegiance to the government. The 



84 ^' San Salvador y 

adelantado was in desperate straits but the 
timely arrival of troops and provisions from 
Spain enabled him to check the conspiracy. 

When Columbus arrived he found the natives 
in revolt, incited and directed by the ungrateful 
alcalde. Hordes of savages in war paint, under 
the crafty influence of Roldan and his lieuten- 
ants, threatened the young colony with destruc- 
tion. Columbus, conscious of the danger threat- 
ened by the insurgents, made terms with Roldan 
and his followers, to whom he made grants of 
land. Roldan he reinstated in office. 

Four ships, under the command of Alonzo de 
Ojeda, the daring cavalier who distinguished 
himself by the capture of Caonabo, arrived se- 
cretly at the western part of the island. The 
crafty character of Roldan pointed him out as a 
suitable person to ascertain the objects of Ojeda's 
visit. After many interviews between these 
wily antagonists, it was ascertained that Ojeda 
had been authorized by the Superintendent of 
Indian Affairs, Fonseca, to explore the rich 
lands before Columbus could reach them, with 
the hope of thus lessening the glory of the dis- 
coverer. 



A Prisoner in Chains. 85 

While the admiral was engaged with the 
affairs of the colony and allaying disturbance in 
the island, his enemies at home, headed by 
Fonseca, were making accusations and insinua- 
tions against him at court. Ferdinand was con- 
vinced, Isabella doubted, and they resolved to 
send out some person of ability and honesty to 
investigate. Columbus had recently sent home 
many of the followers of Roldan, who, when 
leaving the island, induced some of the young 
native women to accompany them. They reported 
on their arrival in Spain, that the admiral had 
given them the women. The womanly nature 
of Isabella was shocked at the outrage of hand- 
ing these innocent natives over \o lewd and 
irresponsible men. "What power," she indig- 
nantly exclaimed, ' ' has the admiral to give 
away my vassals ?" 

Don Francisco de Bobadilla was chosen to 
make an investigation of the government of the 
new colony and of the conduct of Columbus and 
his brothers, and, if the charges against them 
were proved, he was to divest them of the com- 
mand. 

Diego Columbus was in command at San 



86 ^^ San Salvador.^ ^ 

Domingo and the admiral and Don Bartholo- 
mew, were at Fort Conception, when Bobadilla 
arrived. He announced himself as Royal Com- 
missioner, sent to investigate the affairs of the 
colony. The next da)^ he ordered his letters 
patent to be read, and deinanded from all present 
obedience, and from Diego the surrender of all 
fortresses, prisoners and royal property. These 
Diego refused to give up without authority from 
the viceroy. This refusal incensed Bobadilla, 
who attacked the fortress, which had no garri- 
son, entered in triumph and took possession of 
the prisoners. This arrogant assumption of 
office, he followed up by taking possession of 
the admiral's house and seizing everything in it, 
even private papers. 

When tidings reached the admiral of these in- 
sulting and high-handed proceedings, he wrote 
to Bobadilla, cautioning him against hasty meas- 
ures, assuring him that he was about to go to 
Spain and would leave him in command. He 
soon after started, almost alone, for San Dom- 
ingo. When he arrived he was arrested, put in 
irons and placed in solitary confinement in the 
fortress, by order of the commissioner. Diego 



A Prisoner m Chains. 87 

and Bartholomew were also imprisoned. No 
charges were made, no inquiry instituted and no 
opportunity for defense offered, and the prison- 
ers were cut off from intercourse with each other, 
and from all communication with their friends. 

This violence and indignity offered to Colum- 
bus and his brothers, by the royal commissioner, 
may be set down to a false estimate of his del- 
egated authority, but the extensive and unde- 
fined powers conferred on him by the crown, 
seem to point to him as the agent of Ferdinand's 
jealousy and ingratitude. 

Columbus had been for a long time in declin- 
ing health, and his imprisonment was, under the 
circumstances, exceptionally cruehand produced 
a state of chronic melancholy and deep despond- 
ency. When the ofiicer appointed to take him 
to Spain came to conduct him to the ship, Col- 
umbus feared that it was to the scaffold, but 
when he was assured that he was to sail imme- 
diately for Spain, he was much pleased and felt 
like one restored to life. * 

Early in October, 1500, shackled like a male- 
factor, amid the scoffs of the rabble, Columbus 
departed from the shores of the island which he 



88 '' Sa7i Salvador y 

had so recently added to the civilized world. 
The master of the caravel, on which he sailed 
would have taken off his irons, but to this the 
admiral would not consent. "No," said he, 
"their majesties commanded me, by letter, to 
obey Bobadilla, he has put upon me these 
chains, I will wear them until they order them 
taken off, and then I will keep them as memo- 
rials of the reward of my services. ' ' 



CHAPTER XIV. 
I.AST VOYAGE OF THE ADMIRAI,. 

THE AGKD PRISONER IN SPAIN. — INDIGNATION 
AND SYMPATHY. — ^ISABELI^A IN TEARS. — THE 
AGED mariner's defense. — INGRATITUDE 
OF THE KING. — THE PHANTOM STRAIT. — 
FATE OF THE ENEMIES OF COI.UMBUS. 

AN old man, dignified in demeanor, vener- 
erable by age and wasted by sickness, was 
landed in Cadiz, a ^prisoner in chains. This re- 
puted malefactor excited the curiosity of the 
crowd ; but when they reeognized tlie discoverer 
of the New World, their idol of eight years ago, 
their indignation was even greater than their 
astonishment. Tidings of the indignities and 
sufferings of Columbus reached the court at 
Granada, and there the sensation was as great 
and the sympathy as generous as that of the 
populace. The alcalde, into whose custody he 
had been delivered by order of Bobadilla, treated 
the admiral with great kindness and respect, 

while awaiting the orders of the monarchs. 

89 



90 '^ San Salvador ^ 

The kindl}^ heart of Isabella was full of sym- 
pathy, Ferdinand, however he might secretly 
feel against Columbus, could not resist the tide 
of popular feeling, and without waiting for any 
documents from Bobadilla, orders were sent to 
have the prisoner instantly set at liberty. The 
sovereigns declared that his imprisonment had 
been without authority, and contrary to their 
wishes; to Columbus, they wrote in affectionate 
terms, expressing their grief at what had hap- 
pened, and inviting him to the court. 

On the seventeenth of December, 1500, Colum- 
bus presented himself at court where he w^as re- 
ceived with every mark of respect and honor. 
At the sight of the aged mariner the kindly 
queen burst into tears. Columbus threw him- 
self on his knees and his emotions were so great 
that he could not utter a word. When he re- 
gained self-possession, he entered into an elo- 
quent defense of his conduct and an able 
vindication of his loyalty to the Spanish crown ; 
he told of his zeal for its interests, and of the 
services he had rendered. The sovereigns de- 
clared their indignation at the conduct of Boba- 
dilla, who, they informed Columbus, would be 



Last Voyage of the Admiral. 91 

immediately dismissed from their service and 
they assured the admiral, that he would be re- 
instated in all his titles, dignities and privileges. 

This reception of Columbus at court made 
amends for the many insults and sufferings he 
had endured. He had implicit confidence in 
the promise of his sovereigns, but he was 
doomed to disappointment. The politic, cold- 
hearted Ferdinand, delayed the promised resti- 
tution and his neglect and ingratitude, threw a 
gloom over the last 3^ears of a life that had shed 
a lustre on the Spanish throne, more glorious 
than would the conquests of an Alexander and as 
lasting as the eternal mountains of the world. 

Public and private expeditions^ to the new 
world had been undertaken either by order or 
with the consent of the king, while Columbus 
was engaged in the new colony. Not only were 
there Spanish explorers but foreign enterprises 
were also numerous. Columbus had shown the 
way and a swarm of adventurers followed. The 
boundless regions opened up inflarned the ava- 
rice of Ferdinand to whom the titles and emol- 
uments granted to Columbus became daily more 
repugnant. Able navigators were willing to fit 



92 ^^ San Salvador.^ ^ 

out private expeditions, at their own cost, and 
to yield a large share of the profits to the crown. 
Columbus was no longer necessary to the un- 
grateful monarch, who, therefore, delayed re- 
instating him. 

To convince Columbus that such delay was 
necCvSsary, the king sent a man of talent and 
discretion to supersede Bobadilla in the govern- 
orship, and to investigate the recent disorders, 
after which Columbus should resume the com- 
mand. The person chosen was Don Nicholas 
de Ovando, a man of prudence and experience, 
but who, in his transactions with Columbus, was 
both ungenerous and unjust. His instructions 
were to send ^obadilla home immediately and to 
enter at once upon the exercise of his office as 
governor. 

Ovando was conveyed by the largest fleet that 
had yet sailed to the New World. It consisted 
of thirty ships and twenty-five hundred men. 
This fleet put to sea on the thirteenth of Feb- 
ruary, 1502. After a stormy voyage, in which 
one ship was lost, they arrived at San Domingo 
on the fifteenth of April. 

Columbus was detained in Spain, inactive, 



Last Voyage of the Admiral. 93 

when the accounts of new discoveries were the 
theme of every tongue. He desired now to 
make a voyage round the southern coast of 
Cuba, to find the strait which he believed ex- 
isted there, and which led into the Indian Sea. 
If he could discover this passage he would con- 
nect the New World he had discovered with the 
wealthy cities of the east, and close, with this 
magnificent achievement, the labors of his life. 

This scheme aroused the cupidity of Ferdi- 
nand and he authorized an expedition to be 
fitted out in the autumn of 1501. The prepara- 
tions for this voyage went on but slowly, and it 
was on the ninth of May, 1502, that Columbus, 
then in his sixty-sixth year, set sail on his fourth 
and last voyage to the New World. His squad- 
ron consisted of four caravels of from fifty to 
seventy tons each, and carried about one hun- 
dred and fifty men, including his son, Fernando, . 
and his brother, Bartholomew. 

Columbus arrived off San Domingo on the 
twenty-ninth of June, and immediately sent one 
of his captains to Ovando to ask permission to 
enter the harbor. He excused himself for doing 
so, on the ground that one of his caravels was 



94 " '5'<2;z Salvador y 

unseaworthy, and further, that he apprehended a 
storm and desired to shelter. Ovando refused 
permission . 

Bobadilla, Roldan and a number of their fol- 
lowers were in the port preparing to sail to 
Spain. 

They scoffed at the prediction of the admiral 
and hurried out to sea. In less than two days, 
their fleet was caught in a tempest that burst on 
it with awful fury. Many of the ships were lost, 
some returned in a shattered condition and only 
one continued her voyage to Spain. Bobadilla, 
Roldan and many of the admiral's most inveter- 
ate enemies perished in this storm. 

The poor, leaky caravels of Columbus suffered 
severely during this terrible storm, but owing to 
the timel}^ precautions taken by the admiral and 
the experienced seamanship of the Adelantado, 
they weathered th i gale. Having repaired his 
ships, the admiral resumed his expedition. 



i I 



CHAPTER XV. 
THE DAYS ARE DARK AND DREARY." 



YUCATAN AND MEXICO. — A FRUITLESS SEARCH. 
— FORTRESS IN THE SEA. — PERILOUS VOY- 
AGE IN A CANOE. — A TIMELY ECLIPSE.— 
MUTINY. — A YEAR ON A WRECK. — RESCUED. 

SMARTING under the insult of his impris- 
onment, grieved by the neglect of his 
sovereign, and irritated by Ovando's insulting 
refusal, Columbus' left San Domingo in pursuit 
of the phantom strait, the discovery of which 
was to close his laborfous and useful career. 
The search was vain and the voyage disastrous. 
Buffeted by storms, starving in leaky ships, re- 
fused provisions by the natives, threatened by 
his crew and disabled by infirmity, the aged 
admiral suffered, in his last voyage, from anxiety, 
danger, hunger, mutiny and bodil}^ pain. 

*' The hopes of youth fall thick in the blast, 
And the days are dark and dreary." 

Columbus, after leaving San Domingo, in a 

95 



96 ' ' Sa7i Salvador, ' ' 

* 
few days reached a group of islands off the coast 

of Honduras. Had he contmued his journey 
west, he would have arrived at Yucatan, Mexico 
would have been disclosed to him, and he would 
have made such discoveries as would have shed 
a fresh glory on his old age, but he followed a 
southeast course, however, and encountered con- 
tinual and violent storms. He visited many 
islands, the natives of which he found to be 
superior in their manners and customs to those 
he had previously seen. He was disappointed 
in his search for the strait that he hoped would 
connect him with the cities of Asia, and he re- 
re^olved instead to seek for the vast gold mines 
of which the natives had informed him. 

The little fleet of Columbus was in very bad 
condition, and the continual storms in the tropics, 
to which it had been exposed, made him anxious 
to find a harbor of refuge. The ships were soon 
after anchored at the mouth of the Veragua, and 
while they were being repaired, the Adelantado, 
with sixty-eight men, proceeded up the river in 
boats and explored an extensive tract of the 
country. He returned with much gold but did 
not find the rich mines for which he was looking. 



" The Days are Dark arid Dreary.^* 97 

It was decided to found a colony here as Col- 
umbus believed that it was the richest country- 
he had visited. " I have seen more signs of 
gold," he writes, " in two days than in Hispan- 
iola in four years." When the houses were 
built, eighty men were selected to remain, and 
the ships prepared to depart. The colony, how- 
ever, was doomed to disaster and was soon 
obliged to withdraw, after much loss and great 
suffering. It was with difficulty that the ad- 
miral succeeded in taking the survivors and their 
effects on board the ships. 

After another struggle with the elements, the 
shattered ships were taken into Port ^anta Gloria, 
where the admiral ordered that they should be 
run aground. He had them lashed together and 
as they filled with water, he erected cabins on 
the prow and stern for the crews. The supply 
of provisions was soon exhausted and he had to 
depend on the natives for food. The ships were 
beyond repair, and the only hope w^s to send a 
message to Ovando, governor of Hispaniola, ask- 
ing for assistance. Diego Mendez volunteered 
on this perilous journey in a canoe, probably the 
most dangerous ever undertaken by any man for 



98 ' ' San Salvador. ' ' 

the safety of his comrades. Shut up in a wreck, 
on the shore of a remote and savage island, forty- 
eight of his crew mutinied and left the wreck, 
under the leadership of Francisco de Porras, one 
of the captains. Many threats were made and 
were it not for the bravery of Don Bartholomew, 
the admiral would have been brutally treated. 

Provisions began to grow scarce as the Indians 
brought in onl}^ small quantities. Later they 
refused an}^ supplies and starvation was inevita- 
ble. An interpreter was sent to the Caciques of 
the neighborhood inviting them to a conference 
with the admiral, who knowing that the time of 
an eclipse of the moon was near, determined to 
use that knowledge to frighten the savages. 
When they assembled, he told them that the 
great Deity was angry with them for refusing to 
suppl}^ his followers with provisions but that be- 
fore punishing them, he would give them a last 
warning that very night : the moon would 
change its color and lose its light ; and that if 
they neglected the warning, terrible punishment 
w^ould follow. The eclipse had the desired effect 
and a plentiful supply of provisions was sent to 
the wreck. 



" Tlie Days are Dark and Dreary.'' 99 

More than eight months had now elapsed since 
Mendez set out on his perilous journey, yet there 
were no signs of relief. This was not the brave 
sailor's fault. After suffering terrible privations 
and encountering great dangers he reached His- 
paniola. Ovando received him with kindness, 
but delayed sending a ship to the admiral's re- 
lief for eight months, when he sent a small cara- 
vel to Columbus, to say that he regretted not 
being able to send a ship to his relief, and ex- 
pressing great concern at his misfortune. 

Ovando' s delay, in sending assistance to the 
admiral, attracted the attention of the colonists 
and excited their indignation and at the end of 
twelve months two vessek arrived at Jamaica. 
It had been a year of suffering, privation and 
danger. The crews were taken off the wreck, 
the mutineers were forgiven and taken home but 
Porras, the ringleader, was held a prisoner. The 
admiral hoisted his flag for the last time, and 
sailed for San Domingo, but remained there only 
a short time on account of the treatment of the 
governor. 

During the voyage home, they experienced, 
as they had done throughout the voyage, the 



loo " San Salvador y 

most tempestuous weather. Fortune seemed to 
Irown on the admiral from the beginning to the 
end of this, his last and most disastrous voyage. 
He arrived in Spain on the seventh of Novem- 
ber, 1504. 



CHAPTER XVI. 
NUNC DIMITTIS. 

DEATH OF ISABELLA. — FERDINAND, EVASIVE AND 
DILATORY. — life's TIDE FAST EBBING. — 
PEACEFUL PREPARATIONS. — DEATH OF COLUM- 
BUS. — FUNERAL OBSEQUIES. — A MONUMENT 
AND A LEGEND. 

WHEN Columbus arrived in Spain, he was 
shattered in health, and worn out by the 
anxieties and troubles which he had encountered 
in his late voyage. He no;^ looked forward to a 
period of rest and repose. Again he was doomed 
to disappointment. 

Since the time of his imprisonment and the 
seizure of his property by Bobadilla, his dues 
were either uncollected or were retained by the 
governor. His affairs were, therefore, in a state 
of confusion. He had enriched the monarchs of 
Spain, and spent many years in their service, yet 
in his old age he was suffering for want of his in- 
come. He applied to the king for the money 

lOI 



io2 " Sa7i Salvador.''^ 

due to him, but while doing so, he laid still 
greater stress on the restoration of his offices and 
dignities. 

He received unsatisfactor}^ replies from the 
court and his bodily infirmities prevented him 
from visiting the king. The discoverer of the new 
world pleaded in vain for his dignities and his 
rewards. Ferdinand treated him with indiffer- 
ence ; Isabella was dangerously ill. Domestic 
calamities, which the queen had suffered, induced 
a deep melancholy, which increased her in- 
firmities and hastened her death. She died on 
the twent3^-sixth of November, 1504, in the 
fifty-fourth year of her age. By the death of the 
queen, Columbus lost his only shield from the 
ingratitude of Ferdinand. 

Columbus, whose rugged and robust health 
had carried him through so man}^ labors, now 
presented himself at court, a broken-down old 
man, accompanied by his brother, Bartholomew, 
who acted as nurse and companion. The admiral 
laid his claims before the king and reminded him 
of his promises made under the ro3^al word and 
seal. Ferdinand acknowledged his great services 
with mau}^ courteous expressions, but put off any 



Nunc Dimittis. 103 

settlement by evasive answers and dilatory 
promises. The king hoped to induce Columbus 
to waive his claim to the titles conferred on him 
.and to accept others instead. Columbus rejected 
the offer of substitutes, however honorable, with 
indignation ; his titles he looked upon as the 
trophies of his discoveries, and the most valuable 
inheritance he could bequeath to his children. 

The king finding his efforts unavailing, to 
induce Columbus to accept other rewards, now 
looked forward, with hope and confidence, to the 
time, not far distant, when the aged discoverer 
would cease to demand earthly titles. The cold 
and politic king had not long to wait. 

Care, hardship, infirmitjrand years of toil, had 
shattered the aged mariner's strong frame ; in- 
gratitude, enmity and defamation were now com- 
pleting the wreck. Life's tide was fast ebbing, 
as he lay neglected by the king, and forgotten by 
the people. Finding his infirmities increase and 
his strength fail, he prudently prepared for the 
final voyage which all must make across the 
great unknown. 

Feeling the approach of death, he set his 
worldly affairs in order and attended with the 



i04 *' San Salvador ^ 

minutest care to every duty of affection and 
ever}^ claim of justice. He then peacefully de- 
voted his last hours to the exercises of religion 
and breathed his last with the words: "Into 
thy hands, O lyord, I commend my spirit." He 
was about seventy years of age at his death, 
which occurred on the twentieth of May, 1506. 
The distinguished mariner had followed a life 
on the sea for fifty-six of the vSeventy years of 
his life. In early manhood he had evinced a 
passion for discovery; in advanced years, when 
his plans were completed, he had to beg of 
princes to accept the gift of a new world; in old 
age, when the discovery was made, he had equal 
trouble to convince them of its importance. In 
an age when the ocean was a mystery, and the 
bravest sailor would not dare its dangers, he 
made a pathway across its unknown waters, and 
by his courage, genius, and constancy, opened 
up the vast treasury of the West, not only to the 
House of Castile and Leon, but to the brave, the 
daring, and the adventurous of the world. The 
glory of his achievement, when compared with 
that of the navigators who followed him, is as 
the effulgence of the sun in his noonday 



Nunc Dimittis. 105 

splendor when compared to the lesser orb, that 
shines with a useful, but borrowed brightness. 

Columbus was buried in the Convent of St. 
Francisco, Valladolid, but in 1513 his remains 
were removed 'to Seville and placed in the chapel 
of the Carthusian Monastery. The remains of 
his son, Diego, who died in 1526, were also de- 
posited there ; the remains of both were after- 
wards, in 1536, transferred to Hispaniola and 
deposited in the cathedral of San Domingo. In 
1795 they were removed, with regal cere- 
mony, as national relics, from San Domingo and 
taken to Havana in the Island of Cuba, where 
they were deposited 'in the cathedral, 'in the 
presence of the dignitaries of the church and 
high officers of state, with all the honors due to 
An admiral and Spanish Captain-General, It is 
a strange coincidence that from this same port of 
San Domingo, three hundred years before, Col- 
umbus had been taken a prisoner in chains to 
Spain, broken in health, ruined in fortune and 
deprived of his dignities. Horace says truly, 
Extindus amabitur idem. ' ' Ferdinand whose 
coldness and ingratitude had done much to em- 
bitter the last days of the Admiral's life, erected 



io6 " San Salvador'' 

a monument to his memory when dead, with the 
inscription : 

"To Castile and Leon, Columbus gave a New 
World." 



CHAPTER XVII. 
A CITY OF PALACES. 

CROWNING BVKNT OF THE NINETEENTH CEN- 
TURY. — COI.UMBIA ACTS THE HOSTESS. — 
INVITATION OF THE NATIONS. — ACT OF 
CONGRESS. — VAST OUTLAY. — GRANDEUR OF 
THE REPUBLIC REPRESENTED BY CHICAGO. 

WHY, arise these palaces, with fairy-like 
growth, on the banks of Lake Michigan ? 
Why, in the midst of one of Chicago's beautiful 
parks, are seen so rnan}^ ^omes, pinnacles and 
towers, crowning with appropriate architectural 
design, the magnificent structures of which they 
form a part ? Why these thousands of artisans, 
whose busy hands and fertile brains are develop- 
ing symmetry of form, grandeur of design and 
elegance of structure from apparent chaos ? 
Why this vast expenditure of laborj of time, of 
money ? 

The answer is : To celebrate the birthday of 

the New World, to mark an era in the world's 

107 



io8 ''Sail Salvador.''^ 

progress, and to be the closing and crowning 
event of the nineteenth century. 

Four hundred years ago the existence of this 
vast continent was unknown to the inhabitants 
of the Old World. Its existence was proclaimed 
by the genius and the daring of Christopher Col- 
umbus, who first beheld the New World on the 
twelfth of October, 1492. 

It has been decided by the United States Gov- 
ernment, to celebrate the four hundredth anniver- 
sary of this event, by a World's Fair, and that 
Columbia, the youngest among the nations of the 
world, shall act the hostess, and' invite her older 
sisters to an International Exposition of the 
products of the world. 

The unanimous endorsement of this project, 
by the people of this country, prompted the Gov- 
ernment to inquire into this vast undertaking, 
and the result of the inquiry has been the Gov- 
ernment's sanction and support. The Senate 
and the House of Representatives have passed a 
special act of Congress for the regulation and 
guidance of its promoters, and the President, in 
the name of the people of the United States, has 
invited the nations of the world to take part in it, 



A City of Palaces. 109 

and to send such exhibits as will fully illustrate 
their resources, development and progress. 

By means of this Columbian Exposition, each 
nation will learn the point of development at 
v/hich it has arrived, and each will take a new 
starting-point for future exertion. 

To individuals, even more than to nations, 
this World's Fair is important. The present 
time is so full of th6 marvelous results of science 
and the rapid changes resulting from invention, 
that we are liable to allow them to pass un- 
heeded, unless our attention is aroused by an 
event like the Columbian Exposition. The bar- 
riers that separate nations are gradually vanish- 
ing. Great steamships cross the ocean despite 
the storm, and powerful locomotives cross the 
continents with wonderful speed, trailing after 
them in comfort and safety palace cars filled 
with people. Messages sent from one side of the 
globe are received at the other in less time than 
it takes to write them, and the wonders of inven- 
tion and discovery are daily astonishing the 
world. Science finds out the laws and Industry 
applies them, then Art steps in and clothes them 
with beauty. Formerly discovery or invention 



no ''San Salvador. ' ' 

was wrapped in mystery and kept a secret, now 
it is published to the world by the Daily Press, 
and competing effort often improves the new 
idea and surpasses it. 

We have pointed out very briefly the origin 
and object of the Columbian Exposition. We 
will now describe the friendly battle fought by 
the principal cities of this country, each con- 
tending for the honor of hoMing this birthday 
celebration within its boundaries. 

The competitors were, New York, the Empire 
City ; Washington, the Seat of Government ; 
St. Louis, the Pride of the Great Father of 
Waters ; and Chicago, the Metropolis of the 
Great West. The claims of each were ably and 
eloquently stated before a special committee of 
the United States Senate. After hearing the 
arguments it was decided to give Chicago the 
honor and to impose on her the duty of prepar- 
ing and conducting the great enterprise. 

The considerations which prompted the com- 
mittee to select Chicago may be briefly stated as 
follows : Her representative character as an 
American city. Her marvellous growth and 
prosperity. Her unrivalled accommodation and 



A City of Palaces. 1 1 1 

transportation facilities, both for visitors and 
exhibits. Her unequalled site, in the midst of a 
spacious park on the shore of Lake Michigan. 
Her generosity in readily subscribing over ten 
millions of dollars toward the expenses. To 
which may be added the consideration that, the 
city itself will be one of the most wonderful ex- 
hibits that visitors will have presented to them. 
The Act of Congress, sanctioning the celebra- 
tion and giving it a national character was passed 
April the twenty-fifth, 1890, and begins as 
follows : 

An act to provide for 'celebrating the four hundredth 
anniversary of the discovery of America by Christo- 
pher Coluinbtis by holding an international exhibition 
of arts, industries, manufactures, and the product of 
the soil, mine, and sea, i7i the city of Chicago, in the 
State of Illinois. 

Whereas, It is fit and appropriate that the four. hun- 
dredth anniversary of the discovery of America be com- 
memorated by an exhibition of the resources, of the 
United States of America, their development, and of the 
progress of civilization in the New World : and 

Whereas, Such an exhibition should be of a national 
and international character, so that not only the people 
of our Union and this continent, but those of all nations 



112 ^' Sa?i Salvador y 

as well, can participate, and should therefore have the 
sanction of the Congress of the United States : Therefore, 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Represent- 
atives of the United States of America in Congress 
assembled, That an exhibition of arts, industries, manu- 
factures, and products of the soil, mine, and sea shall be 
inaugurated in the year eighteen hundred and ninety- 
two, in the city of Chicago, in the State of Illinois. 

An estimate of the appropriations, from every 
source, necessary to defray the cost of this vast 
undertaking, reaches the enormous sum of forty 
millions of dollars, with the prospect that it will 
exceed that amount. In this as in every other 
undertaking, Chicago, the representative city of 
the West, stands forth as the highest type of the 
characteristics that have made this 3^oung nation 
the wonder of the world, and she is determined 
that this celebration shall accord with the 
national character and be in keeping with the 
grandeur and the dignit}^ of this great Republic. 



GLOSSARY 

OF FOREIGN WORDS AND PHRASES, PROPER NAMES, AND 
WORDS NOT GENERAI,I,Y USED. 



AdeIvANTado, lieutenant-governor. 

Admirai,, a maritime commander-in-chief, the chief 
officer of a fleet. The word is said to have been intro- 
duced by the Genoese in the twelfth century. 

AlvCAivDE, a justice of the peace. 

Ai^GiERS, one of the Barbary states in the north of 
Africa, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. It is in 
possession of the French republic. 

AivHAMBRA, the red city, formerly the royal palace of 
the Moorish kings in Spain. (See Granada.) 

Arragon, a province of Spain, formerly an independent 
kingdom, but united under one Spanish monarch in 
the fifteenth century. 

Azores, a group of nine islands in the Atlantic ocean, 
directly west of Portugal to which country they belong, 
They are of volcanic origin ; St. Michael is the largest 
but Terceira is the capital. They do not possess a 
single good harbor and are therefore shunned by 
navigators. • t 

BABYI.ON, the city of Babel or Babylon was built on the 
river Euphrates, by Nimrod, about 2500 B. C. The 
period of its greatest glory was about 1000 B. C, when 

its power was considerably extended over the East. 

113 



114 Glossary, 

Camoens, a Portuguese poet and the ouly writer of that 
country, who has obtained much celebrity abroad ; his 
fame rests on the epic poem, " Os Lusiadas " or the 
Ivusitauians ; the ancient name of Portugal having 
been I^usitania. He died in 1579. 

Canaries, a group of islands in the Atlantic ocean, 
South of Madeira and much nearer to the African 
coast ; they are believed to be the the Fortunate Islands 
of the ancients. There are six islands, the most im- 
portant is Tenerifife, the peak of which, 12,000 feet 
high, is a well known landmark. 

CaraveIv, a light, round, old-fashioned ship. 

Caribs, the inhabitants of the Caribbee Islands, as some 
of the West Indian Islands are called. They are of an 
olive-brown color, paint their bodies red and devour 

. the flesh of their captives. 

Carthusian, a religious order of monks, founded by 
St. Bruno, in 1086, who derived their name from the 
desert of Chartreuse, near the city of Grenoble, in the 
southeast of France, where they built their first her- 
mitages. 

CastiIvE, a province in Spain, formerly an independent 
kingdom but was united under one Spanish monarch 
in the fifteenth century, 

CeuTa, a city on the African coast of the Mediterranean 
Sea, opposite to Gibraltar. 

Convent of Our L/ady of I^a Rabida, is situated about a 
mile from the town of Palos, in Andalusia. It re- 
ceived its name. La Rabida, from the protection said 



Glossary. 115 

to be afforded to the inhabitants of the district, partic- 
ularly from madness, by a miraculous image known 
by the name of Our Lady of La Rabida. The convent 
would have long since been forgotten but for the as- 
sistance afforded to Columbus by its prior. 
Copernicus, Nicholas, a native of Prussia, eminent for 
mathematical and astronomical knowledge, in his 
"De Revolutionibus Orbium " he argues that the sun 
is the center of the planetary system, from which cir- 
cumstance he is usually called the originator of the 
present system of astronomy, although it was largely 
the work of Kepler, Galileo, and Newton. He died 

in 1543- 
Egypt, called by the Hebrews, Mizraim, situated in the 
Valley of the Nile. 'Its history commences about 
2500 B. C. ; but some believe that it began much ear- 
lier. The people were allied -to the Semetic and negro 
races. 

BscuTCHEON, the shield on which a coat-of-arms is rep- 
resented. The surface of the shield is called the field, 
distinguished by tinctures, supporters, etc. Scott in 
" Marmion " alludes to the royal banner of Scotland 
as " The ruddy lion rampt in gold." 

** ExTiNCTus amabitur idem." The same, person (who 
was envied while alive) shall be loved when dead. 

Genoa, city in Italy on the Mediterranean Sea, became 
in the Middle Ages the capital of an independent re- 
public and was distinguished for its commerce and 
wealth. For some time it was the great rival of Ven- 



ii6 Glossary. 

ice, with which city it carried ou violent and destruc- 
tive wars. From its magnificence, Genoa has acquired 
in Italy the title of " La Superba." 
G1BRAI.TAR, a fortified promontory belonging to Eng- 
land, situated at the southern point of Spain. It was 
taken from the Spanish in 1704, and although several 
times besieged, has since remained a British posses- 
sion. It is the site of the "Pillars of Hercules," 
which, according to the myth, were formed by Hercu- 
les cleaving asunder a mountain which closed the 
Mediterranean and so opened that sea to the Atlantic. 

Granada, situated in the southern portion of the basin 
of the Gaudal quiver in Spain, built on two hills 2,200 
feet above the sea level, one of them is crowned by 
the celebrated Moorish fortress, the Alhambra ; 
founded by the Moors and from whatever point it is 
viewed, it has an aspect of magnificance. It is an ob- 
ject of historical and architectural interest. 

Gutenberg, John, the inventor of printing at Mayence 
in Germany about 1437. It came into general use 
about the year 1500, and produced important social 
changes. 

Horace, a native of the South of Italy, born 65 B. C. 
He was a great favorite at Rome ; excelled as a lyrist. 
His pieces are exquisitly finished. He is the most 
popular of Roman writers. 

Iceland, which signifies island in the native language, 
lies near the Arctic circle, directly north of the British 
Isles. It has an area of forty thousand square miles ; 



Glossary. 117 

its climate is like that of Northern Sweden. Its in- 
habitants are the direct descendants of the Norsemen 
and their language is the standard of the northern 
dialect of the Gothic. 

India, a name given to this country by Columbus on his 
discovery of America, under the impression that it 
was the eastern coast of Asia, that he had reached. 

Kepler, a native of Wurtenburg, Germany, who for 
some time acted as assistant to Tycho Brahe, the Dan- 
ish astronomer ; his fame rests on certain laws of plan- 
etary motions known as "Kepler's Laws." He died 
in 1630. 

LoNGFEivLOW, Henry Wadsworth, born in Maine in 1807, 
one of the sweetest of American poets, author of 
Evangeline, the Story of Hiawatha, and numerous 
other poems. 

LusiADAS, See Camoens. ^ 

Mammoth, the Russian name for an extinct species of 
animal of great size. The remains of one were found 
in 1799. The word is now used as an adjective to ex- 
press largeness. 

Marco Poi,o, a Venetian who travelled in the Bast and 
on his return in 1260 introduced the mariner's com- 
pass into Europe. The use of this instrument greatly 
facilitated maritime enterprise. « 

Mariner's Compass, an instrument for directing the 
course of ships at sea. It consists of a card marked 
with the points of direction, and a magnetic needle 
that always points to the north ; these are enclosed in 



ii8 Glossary. 

a case covered with glass and suspended so as to remain 
always in a horizontal position. It was introduced into 
Europe by Marco Polo. 

Mastodon, a genus of mammiferous animals resem- 
bling the elephant, now extinct and known only by their 
fossil remains. 

Madeiras, this group of islands consists of one princi- 
pal island and several smaller ones around it, lying 
about four hundred miles from the northwest coast of 
Africa in the Atlantic ocean. It is celebrated for its 
wine and for its peculiarly mild and uniform climate. 
The chief town is Funchal. 

Moors, the inhabitants of Morocco, in northwestern 
Africa ; they held dominion in Spain for eight hundred 
years ; but were conquered and their kingdom of Gra- 
nada subdued in 1491, after a ten years' war. 

NiJwTON, Sir Isaac, was born in Linconshire, England, 
on Christmas day, 1642, just one year after the death 
of Galileo. He holds, by universal consent, the high- 
est rank among natural philosophers ; his great work 
is the " Principia " (Mathematical Principles of Natu- 
ral Philosophy). In 1666, while sitting in his garden 
reflecting on the principles of gravity, the fall of an 
apple from a tree gave him the idea of universal gravi- 
tation which he applied to the planetary motions. He 
died in 1727. 

Normandy, a portion of the kingdom of France ceded 
by Charles the Simple, to the Northmen in 912, from 
whom it received the name, which it still retains. 



Glossary. ^ 119 

Norsemen or Northmen, the inhabitants of Norway, 
Sweden and Denmark, who were so called in early 
times. 

Pai^OvS, a town in the south of Spain, in the province of 
Andalusia ; it was a good sized town, with a small 
harbor in the time of Columbus, but it is now a mere 
village of a few hundred inhabitants, who subsist by 
labor in the fields ; there is no landing place nor any- 
thing to indicate that from it, set out four hundred 
years ago, an expedition for the discovery of a new 
world. 

Pharaoh, a title equivalent to king ; it was given to a 
long line of sovereigns of different dynasties in Egypt. 

Porto Santo, an island off the coast of Africa, dis- 
covered in the time of Prince Henry, a portion of it 
was given to Bartolomeo Morios de Palestrello as a re- 
ward. Columbus married Palestrello's daughter, 
Doiia Felipa and went to reside there foV some time. 

Pyramids, are huge structures of masonry, with a square 
basis, terminating in a point, and are believed to have 
been erected as monumental tombs of the Pharoahs ; 
these wonderful buildings are supposed to be nearly 
four thousand years old. 

REGidors, magistrates of a city. 

RoMuivUS, the reputed founder of Rome, from whom it 
is said to have received its name. The mythic fable is 
that Romulus and Remus, twin brothers of royal 
parentage, were exposed when infants to perish, and 
were saved by being suckled by a she-wolf on the Pal- 
atine Hill, where Romulus subsequently founded the 
city of Rome. 



I20 , Glossary. 

Sagres, a headland ou the southwest point of Spain, on 
the Atlantic coast, south of Cape St. Vincent. 

Seneca, philosopher, born in the first year of the Chris- 
tian era, in Spain ; most of his life was spent in Rome 
where he acted as tutor to Nero. He was condemned 
to death as a conspirator, but was allowed to choose the 
manner of his death ; he took poison but was drowned 
in a bath. 

Tagus, an important river which flows through Spain 
and Portugal and empties itself into the Atlantic ocean. 
Lisbon, the chief city of Portugal, is situated at its 
mouth. 

Te Deum, a hymn of praise, frequently chanted on the 
occasion of some great national event. The commen- 
cing words are : Te Deum laudamus. We praise Thee, 
O Lord ! 

Titans, a name given to the sons of Coelus (heaven) 
and Terra (earth). They were all of gigantic stature 
and with proportionate strength. The wars of the 
Titans against the gods are very celebrated in mythol- 
ogy, where they are credited with having piled Pelion 
on Osso, two mountains in Thessaly, to enable them to 
reach the dwellings of the gods, 

Tripoi.1, one of the Barbary States, in the north of 
Africa, on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea. 

Tunis, one of the Barbary States, in Africa, on the coast 
of the Mediterranean Sea, between Algiers and Tripoli. 

UivTiMA ThuIvE, the most remote northern islands, 
known to the Romans ; probably the name was not 
always applied to the same place, but varied with the 
progress of discovery. 



Reference Reading. 121 

University, an assembly of colleges, in wliich is taught 
all the branches of learning ; the first was that of 
Paris, established about the year 1200. 

Vasco de Gama, a Portuguese navigator, who was the 
.first to make a voyage to India round the Cape of 
Good Hope. This took place in 1497, and altered the 
whole current of trafiBc between Europe and India. 
He died at Goa, in the East Indies, in 1524. 

Viceroy, the governor of a couutr}', who rules in the 
name and with the authority of the king for whom he 
acts as substitute. 

REFERENCE READING. 
History : 

Shaler's "Time of the Mammoths." 

Squire and Davis' "Ancient Monuments." 

Foster's '• Prehistoric Races of North America." 

Anderson's " Discovery of Aiserica by Norsemen." 

Prescott's "Conquest of America." 

Biography : 

Harrisse's " Christophe Colonib. " 
Washington Irving's " Columbus." 

Poetry : 

Whittier's " Norsemen." 
Longfellow's "Skeleton in Armour." 
Lowell's "Columbus." 

Fiction : 

Matthew's " Behemoth : A Legend of the Mound 

Builders." 
Ballantyne's " Norsemen of the West." 



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